Save the Drama
by mim
Summary: Vince is still healing emotionally and physically from the heists, he meets a nurse that doesn’t put up with his crap. Romance and comedy ensue.Prequel to No More Drama and *Complete*


TITLE: Save the Drama  
  
AUTHOR: Mim  
  
RATING: R  
  
SUMMARY: Vince is still healing emotionally and physically from the heists, he meets a nurse that doesn't put up with his crap. Romance and comedy ensue.  
  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of The Fast and the Furious characters; they are the property of Universal Studios.  
  
NOTES: This is a prequel to the No More Drama series. It is set a little over a year before the events of that series and less than a year after the events of the movie. It is told from Sira and Vince's perspective.  
  
FEEDBACK: I love feedback!!  
SIDENOTE: The No More Drama series is based around Letty and Dom, I wrote that first. But I liked Vince and Sira's characters so much that I decided they deserved their own story. It's posted at fanfiction.net but I can post it here too if you like.  
A Bad Day's Night 1  
Sira POV  
  
I don't even know why I became a nurse anymore. I'm sitting here in the bathroom cleaning up gallons of puke that a bum just threw up on me and my boss is a jackass from hell. I'm stuck in the physical therapy ward and when I finally get called down for some action to the E.R. I get puked on! Fuck! Could this day get any worse? Just then, as if a sign from above that I was not well liked up there, I slammed my way out of the ladies room right into someone. "Whoa! Uh . . . I'm really sorry!" I apologized looking up, and realizing I also had made someone spill their coffee. "FUUUUUUUCK!!! WHAT THE FUCK!! OWWW!! THAT WAS MY FUCKING ARM!! SHIIIIT!!" A loud, raspy voice responded. I cocked my head to the side, that was completely uncalled for. I'm not superwoman, I couldn't have hit him that hard. "Look, I'm sorry, but this is a hospital and you need to control yourself sir." I was starting to get irritated. I did not need this today. "I know this is a hospital, why the fuck do you think I'm here. I'm in physical therapy for my fucking arm. You know, the one you just smashed with the door, making me spill hot coffee all over it didn't help lady!" He continued to wince in pain. Great, now make me feel worse. "I'm really sorry sir, I . ." I started, but he interrupted quickly. "Sorry isn't a pain killer lady so save it!" He snapped. "I didn't know you were standing there! And I didn't know your arm was so sensitive, I'm just trying to apologize k? Besides doesn't look like you're gonna have any third degree burns!" I snapped back. "Maybe if you pulled your head outta your ass you wouldn't have to apologize!" the scruffy guy retorted back at me. Oh, I did not need this today. "Maybe if you watched where you were going! Why where you so close to the ladies room anyways?" I asked sarcastically. "Get outta my way, I gotta clean up before I'm late to physical therapy." He said in a gruff and pushed his way passed me. Well if that's his attitude, he's not going to recover very quickly. Physical therapy is ninety percent mental. After I got back to the ADMIN desk, I picked up a chart. Of course I would be assigned double shift duty, perfect. Eight hours on in the E.R. ending with puke stained scrubs and now a lovely eight more hours assisting physical therapists. I have the worst rotation ever. It's okay, I tried to tell myself, in two months I'm on prenatal rotation and outta boring physical therapy! It helped a little and I grabbed my chart and new scrub shirt and went to a room to change in.  
  
Vince POV  
  
Shit, I never remember which room to go into. Um, this one looks familiar. I opened the door and got an eyeful of flesh before the scream sent me out into the hall again. Well, that was fun, I smiled. The door opened suddenly and out stepped the chick that had slammed my arm with a door earlier. "Don't you know how to knock!" She whispered loudly, fixing her hair out of her face. "Don't sweat it, I didn't see anything, you were wearing a bra." I pointed out and smiled. "Doesn't matter! You should have knocked or has the pain in your arm traveled up to your brain and left you without common sense!" She said frantically. Whoa, I thought, this chick is uptight. "Lady I'm just looking for my normal room for therapy k?" I answered. "What is your name sir?" She snapped, grabbing her clipboard from the table. "Vincent Pallulette." I answered. "You are in this room, I'll be assisting your physical therapist today." The nurse looked down at her chart and started writing something. She told me to wait there for the therapist. Once he got there we started the exercises he had shown me last week. After about thirty minutes the nurse came back. "Remember, you have to practice these exercises at home." The guy reminded him. "I will, I usually don't get doors slammed into my arm there." I glared at the nurse. "I'm sure they're usually slammed in your face." She responded without looking up from the notes she was taking on my chart. Jodi, my physical therapist looked up and smiled. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head and continued my strength training.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I am finally home. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, I exhaled slowly. I love my new place, I thought as I looked around it. Not in the best part of town, but not the ghetto either. Very affordable and big enough to be spacious, but not a bitch to clean. Moving here two weeks ago was a great idea. I needed to get out of that flat that Rob and I shared. Humph, I snorted, fucking Rob, wonder what that pussy's up too. Probably writing poetry or some wussy-ass shit like that. I laughed; it was nice to know that even after a bad day like this, I could still find comfort in the fact that my lame ass ex- boyfriend was still living the "starving artist" life. Tomorrow will be better, I told myself as I got ready for bed.  
  
"Hello?" I grumble into my cell phone and looked at my clock. Fuck, it is 2:55 AM. "Hey baby." "Rob?" I muttered rubbing my head. "Guess again baby." "Fuckin' Alfonso! Leave me the fuck alone, it's over." I hung up and turned my cell off. Guys, and me we just don't mix, their either pussies like Rob or thugs like Alfonso. It's like a pattern with me! I get with an artsy, sensitive type of guy and then I realize I can't handle their ultra-sensitiveness. Then we break up and I rebound with a bad boy and that never lasts more than a week and then I start over with another wuss. Suddenly I sat straight up in bed. It's gotta be around 3 A.M. in the fucking morning! What the fuck is wrong with those people? I got up and went to my window that faced my backyard and the rear neighbor's house. This was the third time their partying had kept me up in the last two weeks. I'm not a narc, so I haven't said anything, but I got a short fuse tonight. I threw on some flip-flops and walked around the corner of the street to their house in my tank-bra and gym shorts. Walking up the steps, I suddenly lost my nerve, but determined to get some well-deserved sleep, I walked into the party. Looking around, I felt totally out of place among the tall curvy blondes in leather and the muscle-bound guys. I caught the eye of dark headed girl in the corner and she came up to talk to me. Hopefully she lives here, I thought.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I stumbled into the house from the backyard still telling Leon about my second day of physical therapy. "So then this uptight nurse makes a crack at me right in the middle of therapy." I finished up the story. "So was she stacked?" He questions with a wide grin. I grinned back, I hadn't really thought about it until he asked. "Not too much, but definitely enough to look at." I smiled, then gasped. "Shit, that's her!" I pointed to a girl talking to Mia in the doorway of the house. "Where?!" Leon asked looking around. I walked over and Leon followed. "Well isn't it a small world." I said, coming up to them. She turned and her expression was priceless! "Oh God." She said and put her hand to her head. "Just please turn the music down okay?" she turned to Mia and then walked out the door. Wow, I thought sarcastically, she's real friendly. "Wow, V, that's some affect you got on women." Mia giggled. "Yeah, well, she's a tight-ass anyways, she's a nurse where I go for physical therapy." I answered, taking another swig of my beer. "Poor thing, she had a horrible day at work and now the party is keeping her up, I'm gonna go turn down the music and start kicking people out." Mia said. Well, that's Mia for ya, always sympathetic. "That was the nurse?" Leon asked. "Yeah bro." I answered. "She's kinda fine dawg. I wouldn't mind 'accidentally' walking in on her." He laughed. I pushed him jokingly and we started helping Mia kick people out.  
  
Gets No Love 2  
Sira POV  
  
I am a loser magnet. I swear, little losers, big losers, I pick them all up with my asshole magnetism. Rob called to ask me about his fucking, ugly ass, one-eyed cat. Of course I have it, he was just gonna leave it on the street! Now the son of a bitch wants it back? Fuck no! I've gotten used to the furball. But after a twelve hour shift at the hospital I come home to three of his insistent messages about his fucking cat. After erasing them I get another call on my cell from Alfonso. And he makes Rob look like the ex-boyfriend from heaven. That fucker wanted a booty call! I don't believe that there are people out there that stupid! Even though it was only two dates with him, it was still two dates too many. I blame it on my breakup with Rob, Alfonso was just a rebound guy, that helps me sleep.  
  
I actually like the Physical Therapy ward in the mornings, it smells clean and like fresh coffee. Only problem is Macabee, my asshole boss who keeps trying to get me into bed. Guaranteed, since he's on today too, I'll be staying until at least two hours after my shift is over. Great.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I love the house on the early Saturday mornings, Mia stays over at Brian's a lot so she's only there half the time, Leon is a late sleeper by nature and Dom is quiet in the mornings. After I sat down to eat some breakfast Dom came into the kitchen. "What are ya doin up so early V?" He asked groggily. "Gotta early physical therapy appointment." "That's cool, where's Mia?" "Where do ya think dawg." I looked down. Sometimes it still bothered me that they were together, not all the time, but sometimes. "You've been really cool about that V." "Yeah, well, whatta ya gonna do?" I responded, and got up to put my dish in the sink. "He's a good guy V." "I know." I left the house. On the way to the hospital I thought about Mia and Brian and how much things had changed since he'd come around. Mia was just one of those girls that you could look at but never touch. She was smart to not date me, I'm a roughneck, grease monkey, racer, who didn't even graduate high school. Mia was valedictorian, and now she's in school to become a doctor. I don't think O'Connor is much better for her though. A ex-cop who only came into our lives because of the heists. Now he works at Harry's full time and part-time in the garage with the rest of us grease-monkeys. But they make it work and seeing her happy is what really matters, I guess. O'Connor is a good guy and we've been getting along better. But Mia sets that standard bar pretty high and racer skanks are good for a fuck, but that's about it.  
Sira POV  
  
Why do I work for this man? Why am I still here listening to him try to persuade me to stay on after I'm supposed to switch rotations? Oh, that's right, because I need a good evaluation, even if it means keeping my mouth shut around this cocky asshole. "So are you sure you don't want to sign up for another rotation here in physical therapy Sira, because this is the last week to decide. I think you would really benefit from seeing how I run a smooth department here." Macabee tooted his own horn. "I really need a change of pace, even though I love it here, I think I need to become a well-rounded nurse." I responded in a professional manner. He walked away, thank God!! Jodi came up to me handing me a chart. "Here comes your favorite patient Sira." He whispered. I turned around and Vincent Pallulette was walking toward us. I snorted. Yeah, my favorite pain in the ass was more like it. I cant' believe he ends up living behind me in that party house. The girl that lives there is cool, but from what I've seen the guys are a bunch of hoods. Their cars are loud enough to wake the dead and they come and go at all hours of the night. "Nurse." Vincent greeted me. Still hasn't bothered to learn my name, I thought. It's right on my name tag, but that might actually take social skills that this guy just isn't capable of. "Mr. Pallulette." I responded. He and Jodi walked to their usual room and I sat down to make notes on some charts.  
  
Vince POV  
  
After physical therapy I drove home and walked into the house to see Mia and Brian making out on the sofa. Great. "Oh, go upstairs!" I motioned. They broke apart and just smiled, then took my suggestion. I walked into the kitchen and got a beer. Looking out the back kitchen window I could see that nurse's house. Shit, what was her name? Mia told me but I forgot. I guess I coulda asked Jodi, or just checked her name tag, but of course, I didn't. I wonder if she knows how I hurt my arm. Shaking my head I headed out the garage, I knew Dom was probably working out in there. "Yo Dawg!" I called out. "What up brotha!" he sat up on the bench press. "How was therapy?" "Don't just say therapy. Say 'physical therapy', or else I feel like a fucking head case." I corrected him. He just laughed and asked me to spot him. "So I heard your nurse is also our neighbor." He said, between sets. "Yeah, she lives in that back house that used to belong Mrs. Apodaca." "Leon says she's hot." "Leon was drunk off his ass when he saw her." I laughed. "So she's not hot." "She's alright, but she's bitchy bro." I reminded him of how I met her. He chuckled. "Hey, that chick Suzanne called for ya." He said as we walked inside the house. "Okay." I shrugged. Suzanne was last Saturday night's entertainment. "Ya callin her back?" Leon walked into the kitchen and asked as he sat down. "No." I got a Corona from the fridge. He laughed. Then he tried to name all the girls that he, Dom and I had been through since the summer racin had started. "Suzanne, Candida, Cindy, LaTonya, Amy, Rosa, Karen, JoJo, Jenny, Kunica, and Leann" Leon had run out of fingers. "That's three for each of you and five for me. You guys better catch up." Dom said and leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin on his face. "Nah. I need some regular action, like on a steady basis." I said. "Like a girlfriend." Leon's face scrunched up. Leon was the most commitment-phobic guy in the world. Dom laughed. "That's not what you'll be saying tonight at the races V!" he said with a knowing smile.  
  
Meet 'n Greet 3  
Sira POV  
  
I love Sundays. I love days off. I love everything about them! Even though I always have to run errands, I still love not having to see Macabee or any of the bitchy nurses that seem to like him! After dropping the cat off at the vet, I pulled over to a little store near my house to get some lunch. Walking in I recognized the girl behind the counter as the girl who lived behind my house. Smiling, I greeted her. "Hi Mia." "Hey Sira, how you livin' girl!" she was really a sweet girl. Probably only a couple years younger than me. "I'm doing good! I'm really sorry if I came off bitchy last week, but I'd had a really hard day." "Please girl! I totally understand, I live with three guys! And trust me, sometimes their a lot moodier than chicks!" She smiled big. "I was going to ask you about that." I sat down and quickly ordered a turkey club. "Who all lives there with you?" I probed. Damn me for being nosy, but I can't help it. "I grew up in that house and after my parents died, my older brother and I just decided to stay there." "I'm sorry." I said, not meaning to bring up a sore subject. "It's okay, I was pretty young when it happened. Anyways . . ." she went on, "It used to be a lot more crowded with Dom, he's my brother, his girlfriend Letty, and then Vince, Leon, and Jesse." "Whoa, that is crowded." I giggled. "Well, now it's just me, Dom, V, and Leon. I don't think I introduced you to Leon or Dom, but you know V, right?" I was pretty sure she meant Vincent, so I nodded. "What happened to your brother's girl and Jesse." Mia dropped her head and I got the feeling that I brought up another sore subject. "Uh, well, Letty moved out about a year ago cause they broke up, and Jesse, well, uh . . ." she stammered uncomfortably, "he died around the same time." I apologized again and we sat in silence for a moment. From the back came in two sweaty guys jokin around and hollerin. One was tall, bald and built, the other was tall too, but leaner and with green eyes, I recognized him from the party. "Leon, Dom, this is our new neighbor Sira." Mia introduced me, the sadness disappearing from her face. They waved and nodded hello. Then in came a blond pretty-boy that seemed to know her pretty well cause he grabbed her from behind and kissed her neck as she squealed. "And this is my boyfriend Brian!" she laughed. He was polite and stuck his hand out to shake mine. "Nice to meet you." He said and I smiled and replied . "you too." "Nice to know someone has manners." Mia glared at the other two and they just shrugged and got some cokes. All three guys left a couple minutes later. "Must be rough being the only girl." I commented. She smiled. "Well, Letty is still around, she's a mechanic and still works for my brother's garage. They're all mechanics in case their greasy smell didn't tip you off." We laughed. She was really nice, and funny, I don't know to many girls who are like that and drop dead gorgeous. I can't stand meeting competitive girls. "Wow, sticking around your ex, I could never do that. That's why I moved here to get away from an ex." I smiled. "Well she grew up with us, and she did move but only to those apartments over on San Clemente." I'd seen those, they were only a couple of blocks from here. "I moved clear cross town!" I giggled, but stopped when I saw the whole crew come in. I assumed that petite dark headed girl was Letty, because she was in mechanic coveralls and had black stuff smudged on her face. Also I saw Vincent and he gave me the whole 'head nod' thing. Why is this popular with guys? Something wrong with saying hello? Naturally, I head- nodded back. "Letty, this is Sira." Mia introduced. "Hi." She head nodded too. I smiled. "Well, I've got to go get my oil changed. It was nice meeting ya'll." I smiled nervously. Not a talkative bunch without Mia. The big, intimidating one looked at me thoughtfully and cocked his bald head to the side. "Where are you taking it?" he asked in a deep baritone voice. "Uh, Wal-mart, I guess." I gathered my purse and put my sunglasses on. They all groaned and shook their heads at me. Mia just smiled. The one with really cool green eyes stepped toward the entrance where I was standing poised to leave. "That you're car?" He asked, pointing to my silver Toyota Celica. I nodded and he shook his head again. Putting his oil-smudged arm around my neck, I instantly tensed up as he lead me outside to stand in front of my car. "You are going to take this car to Wal-mart? The same place you buy dogfood at?" He asked. "I don't have a dog." "Ok, the place you buy your tampons at?" I narrowed my eyes at him, not amused. "Yeah, the same place you buy your extra small condoms at." I snapped back. I could hear oooooo's from the crew behind us. Leon chuckled and looked at me. "Look, bring it 'round back and I'll change your oil and do the whole inspection too. Just please don't mention Wal-mart around real mechanics." I agreed and took my car to the garage shop that was around the corner from the store. But I wouldn't let them give me a ride home though, I opted to walk since it was such a nice day outside and gave them my number to call me when it was ready.  
  
Vince POV  
  
Pulling up to Sira's house, I realized that this had been the first time I'd been to this house since I was a kid and Mrs. Apodaca used to live here. It took her a while to answer the door when I knocked. I almost just left the keys in her mailbox. When she got to the door, I could tell she'd been working out. "Uh, here's your car back." I offered the keys to her. "Thanks! How much do I owe ya'll?" she asked breathlessly. "It's on the house. Don't worry about it." I turned to walk back home. "Wait a sec! That isn't necessary!" She called after me. I turned around, "Think of it like this, first time's free, but you'll like it so much you'll come back for more, and that's when we'll make you pay." I smiled and kept walking. "Thanks then! And tell everyone else I said thanks too!" she called. I waved. She's much nicer when not at the hospital, I noted. And a lot hotter. I walked into the Toretto house. "What'd she say?" Leon asked as soon as I walked through the door. "Thanks." I answered. He nodded. "Did you tell her about the premium oil I put in and how I changed her air filters and radiator and brake fluids?" he asked as I sat down on the couch. "No." I smirked. "Why not?" He looked agitated. "Because I don't think she'd give a fuck Leon. She was about to take her car to Wal-mart. So she probably knows shit about cars, and only picked the Celica cause it looks 'cute'. So she's not going to be impressed that you did more than change her oil." He threw a pillow at me from across the room. I laughed. "So what do you think of her?" He asked after a couple of minutes. I shrugged. "I think she's nicer outside of the hospital." I replied. He nodded. "You?" I asked. "I don't know, she seems kinda short for me. She's only like 5'3 right?" He responded. His thing is tall chicks, he's a leg man. "Yeah, but she's got a tight little body. She was working out when I dropped off her car and, uh, she looked good." I laughed. Dom came into the living room from downstairs. "Hey Dom, what'd you think of Sira?" I asked. "Sira who?" He took a seat on the couch and started flipping through the channels on T.V. "Sira with the Celica." Leon tried to jog his memory. I swear, unless he's fucked 'em or wants to fuck 'em, he can't remember a chick's name for shit. "Oh yeah, the Celica, sweet car, I guess, but it's got no specs or mods on it. What the fuck is that about?" He flipped to ESPN2. "What do you think about the girl Dom!" I reiterated. "Oh, the one Mia was talking to at the store, with the dark hair and told you you had a small dick?" Dom said to Leon. Leon laughed and then told him to shut up about that. Dom chuckled. "She's cute, but she don't know shit about cars." "Well, what girl does?" I joked and then instantly wished I hadn't. Letty instantly came to all our minds and that was the number one subject to avoid talking to Dom about. "She's nicer now than when I first met her though." I said trying to change the subject quickly. "Yeah, well niceness is over rated." Dom grumbled and walked to the backyard. "What were you thinkin', idiot." Leon threw another pillow at me as soon as we heard the back door slam. I shrugged, he can't mope forever. It had been, like, ten months since Letty had moved out. But he still wasn't over it. Guess it didn't help that he saw her every day.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I stood in my backyard and faced the house behind me. As I breathed in Yoga fashion, I wondered about the people that lived there. I know it's not good to make snap judgments about people but I can't help it. Mia is obviously the caretaker of that rowdy bunch. Her boyfriend is seems to be crazy about her. Leon's probably the ladies man who's just in it for one thing. Dom looks like the strong, reserved leader-type. Letty, well, she's obviously a tomboy and since Mia is so nice, I'm thinking Letty isn't. Then there's Vincent, a rough neck, but he was nice when he dropped off my car. Probably more to him than I thought. They're all very close, that's evident. I've never had close friends, or close family. Only boyfriends that weren't worth much. On that thought I ran inside to answer my phone. It was my cell and I saw on the Caller ID who it was. "What do you want Alfonso?" I asked in an irritated voice. "You baby, all I want is you back." Ew, he doesn't have a good phone voice at all. He sounds too creepy. "You never had me to begin with. It was two dates, now stop callin" I hung up. If I have to change my number, I'm gonna be pissed!  
  
Vince POV  
  
The races weren't the same anymore. They're still fun and it's cool to beat people and watch Dom school the same idiots over and over, but without Letty and Jesse here, it's just different. "Hay Vince." A smooth drawl broke my thought. "Hey Suzanne, wuz up girl." "I called ya shugah." "Really? I didn't get the message baby." I lied. "It's okay." She smiled. She was beautiful, the typical racer chick. Tall with tits that were big, tan, and silicone. She had short, spunky hair and hardly any clothes on. Gotta love those racer skanks. I smiled back at her. One more go 'round wasn't gonna hurt. Besides I ain't got a steady girl yet.  
Gotta Love Those Barbeques 4  
Sira POV  
  
I love my job. I really do. I love knowing that when someone comes in, I have a part in helping them feel better. But I haven't had a day off in 11 days and if I don't get tomorrow off, I'm gonna start fucking people up. Macabee, yeah, he's number one on my hit list. If he sends me to the ER one more time, I swear I'm going to take those big ears of his and tie 'em in a bow around his mouth. If your subbing in the ER, the reg. nurses treat you like shit. I get off in one hour and I swear if Macabee comes by and tells me I'm on call for tomorrow it'll take 'em a week to pull my orthopedic shoe from his ass. Oh joy! I thought sarcastically. Here comes Vince. I've seen him three times in the past two weeks and every time he finds it necessary to bring up the fact that I don't know jack shit about cars. I'm not so innocent either I guess, I don't exactly have the best bed-side manner when it comes to him. "Hey Sira." He smiles in a mischievous way. "Hello Vince." "So do you live at the hospital, because I never see you at the store anymore." "Well, I don't live there either, besides some of us have real jobs and work for a living. We can't all just hang around a shop working on our cars." I snapped at him. He pretended to be hurt. "Well you'll feel differently when your car needs another oil change." "It has to be changed again?" I asked. This is my first car and I've only had it for four months. He looked at me like I was the stupidest thing on earth. "It has to be changed every three thousand miles." He said, suddenly all business. "How long have you had that car?" "Four months." I answered. "Sorry if I find other things important than learning about cars." "Well not taking car of your car will cost you down the road." He said matter-of-factly. "Well, I can say the same about your arm." I countered. "You know Jodi is around here somewhere. Why don't you go find him." I suggested.  
Vince POV  
  
I think my arm is actually getting stronger. Jodi really know his stuff! I'm surprised but I guess I shouldn't be. It is his job to nurse me back to health, I guess. As for Sira, I've met some other nurses here and she is the meanest. I swear she has a snippy comeback for every little thing I say. Mia insists that she's cool, but I don't agree. She's probably just one of those chicks that hates guys, I hate those kind of chicks. Nothing you do is ever good enough for 'em. After the therapy routine, I was walking out of the hospital through the ADMIN area and I saw Sira arguing with some doctor-lookin dude. "I have to have off tomorrow!" She whispered frantically at him. "You'll have off, you'll just be on call." He explained, while not even looking at her but at his chart. "You always call me in though. It never fails! Whenever I'm on call, I might as well be scheduled because I always get called in. It doesn't happen to any of the other nurses. Just me." Sira told him. I decided to sit in the waiting room a bit. "Exactly what are you saying Sira? That you are singled out around here." "You know exactly what I'm saying Macabee! I'm sick of you working me till I'm ready to fall over. Even if I did fall over, it wouldn't be into your arms!" She whispered violently then turned and stalked out the entrance doors. I ran to catch up with her in the parking lot. "Sira! Wait up girl." I couldn't really run that fast and damn, for a short girl she could really walk fast. She turned and realized it was me and folded her arms. "What Vince? Did you forget something in the hospital? 'Cause Jodi is in there still." She said pointedly. "I just saw you fighting with that doctor guy." "And?" "Well, uh, are you okay n' stuff?" I didn't really know what to say. "Yeah. He's a prick, but he's still my boss." "Well, just wanted to make sure everything was cool." "Thanks dad." She smirked and walked off to her car. "Just tryin to be nice!" I called out. What the fuck? I'm never nice, why was I trying to be with her?  
  
Sira POV  
  
I turned around. "Well just mind your own business next time!" I called back to Vince as he walked toward his car. I have issues with having the last word. What the fuck did he care anyways? "Well I will! Just thought it would be nice if we could get along once in a while!" he turned around and called back at me. "I'm not the problem Vince!" Why was I continuing to fight with him? He charged over to me and I took a step back. "You are not the problem?!" he got in my face. I stood my ground and just looked him back in the eye. "You are just as rude to me as I am to you!" I yelled back. "Now if you'll excuse me, this is where I work, my place of business. I don't think it would be very appropriate for me to be seen arguing with a crazed patient in the parking lot." I turned to unlock my car. He laughed. "Crazed? Honey you don't even know me. Besides, I think you like the craziness in me, or else you wouldn't care enough to argue with me." He walked toward his car again. "You don't know me either Vince!" There goes that last word habit again. He just waved me off and walked to his car. I got in my car and drove home with him behind me the whole way. Finally I pulled up to my driveway and slammed the car door, seeing him pull up behind me. "Exactly what the fuck do you want?" I asked. "I almost forgot, Mia wants you to come to a barbeque tomorrow." He answered in a surprisingly calm tone. "Really?" I said sarcastically. "Honest, she told me to ask you and that's why I caught up to you in the parking lot." "Oh. Uh, . . . I'll try to be there. What time?" I asked. "Around noon." He got in his car and drove around the street. I walked wearily into my house.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I love Sunday, it's my favorite day of the week. I love to barbeque and just kick back. I don't usually get up until eleven but today I got up at nine. Mia was cleaning the living room and I sat down to talk to her for a minute. "Is Letty coming over today?" Mia looked at me like I was stupid. "What do you think?" "I guess that's a no." Letty doesn't usually come unless it's a special occasion like a birthday or holiday. She usually just stays at home, then on Monday when I ask where she was she just makes an excuse or gets pissed. "But Sira called, she' comin." Mia said before she turned on the vacuum. "What!? Why!?" I stood up. She shut off the vacuum cleaner. "Well, what did you expect? You invited her." "I invited her for you, but she was so pissy with me yesterday I thought for sure she wouldn't come. I don't really want to see her. She's a bitch." She rolled her eyes. "V, don't be such a baby!" she walked outta the living room. I decided to hide out at Letty's for a while.  
  
"What up V?" Letty was in her living room stretching after a morning run. Ever since she moved out she's been running and shit. I don't get it, but to each his own. "Just hangin out till the BBQ, you comin?" She gave me the same look that Mia did when I asked her. "I don't think so." "C'mon Let! Mia invited that Sira-nurse-chick and I know she hates me cause she's such a bitch at the hospital and it'll be easier to take if your there." "How do you figure." "I don't know, I just don't really want to go." I was whining but I had no choice. "Did you tell Mia that she was a bitch?" "Yeah, but she doesn't believe me. She likes her, even though the only time she's really talked to her was when she was at the store." "Well, you know Mia is always right don't ya?" Letty smiled. "Fuuuuuck Letty! Please come!" I whined some more. "Fucking child! Fine, but I swear V, don't think this is going to be a regular thing, you know how I feel about being in that house." I smiled my thanks and waited for her to get ready. We were back at the house by eleven and Letty helped Mia in the kitchen. I was on the sofa when the doorbell rang. Must be Sira, only visitors ring that bell. "Hey." I answered the door. "Hey." She looked kinda cute in a khaki skirt and halter top. I forget that she's actually got a cute little body when she's not in her nurse's scrubs. Immediately she went to the kitchen to hang with the girls. I went to the backyard.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Thanks again for inviting me Mia." I said as I put the potato salad that I brought in the fridge. I noticed a bottom shelf full of Corona. "No prob girl." "Why do you and V not get along." Asked Letty. She really cuts to the chase. But Mia looked like she would like to hear the answer to that question too. "Uh, well, I don't know exactly. I think he just always catches me in a bad mood and then strives to make it worse. The hospital is really stressful place sometimes." I tried to smile. They were his really good friends so I didn't want to just come out and say that I thought their friend was an annoying moron. "I can understand that." Letty smirked and opened a Corona and handed it to me. I said thanks and took a drink. Not my taste at all, but I liked these girls and I really wanted to fit in. Letty smiled her approval. "So tell us about why you moved into Mrs. Apodaca's old house." Mia said as she chopped carrots for a salad. I exhaled deeply and sat down. "Well, I moved out to L.A. from Texas, but don't worry I didn't live there long, I'm originally from New York." Californians are always put off when I tell them I moved here from Texas. "I went to school there and met my stupid-ass ex-boyfriend and even thought I wanted to return to New York, he felt more inspiration from the west coast so we moved here, then I dumped his lazy ass about three months ago and then moved in here about a month ago. We had lived together and I just wanted out of that apartment." Mia and Letty nodded. "What do you mean 'inspiration from the west coast'?" Mia asked. She was done with the salad and started getting out silverware and plates. "Oh, he's a writer, mostly poetry, mostly crap." I laughed. The beer was starting to go to my head. I had already finished one and Letty was quick to hand me another. It's only noon for fuck's sake! Oh well, I managed to get today and tomorrow off from Macabee, so fuck it!  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Three girls in one kitchen? Can't be good." Brian joked. We sat around as Dom barbequed. "It's not like Letty cooks, so we should be fine." Leon said and we all laughed. Mia has tried to teach Letty to cook and finally just gave up. "Sira brought some kinda potato salad." I told them. "What's with this Sira girl anyways?" Brian asked. I told him what I knew but it wasn't much. Just then the girls came out so I shut up. "It's about time Mia!" Dom told her as she put the salads on the table. "God forbid I take some extra time to talk." She answered back. "It's not everyday that I can hang out with people other than the testosterone gang." Dom cocked his head to the side. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. "It means she's sick of your ugly mugs." Letty answered. Everyone raised their eyebrows. Letty never talked to Dom unless it was about racin' or cars. Nervously, Sira started laughing. "Glad I could bring some class to the party." She said giggling. Everyone joined in nervously. "Let's eat!" Mia announced.  
  
"Ya know Vincent, this really isn't necessary." I told Vince after everyone insisted I have someone walk me home. "It's just around the corner." "Girl, would you just chill with the 'independent woman' shit, for one second." He replied. "I'm walkin' ya home." We stepped off the porch and started walking on the sidewalk. I'm glad I walked here, cause I'm feelin buzzed still. I can't believe I hung out there until 11:30! It was cool though. "So you known all them since you were a kid?" I asked, trying to fill the silence. "Uh, yeah, 'cept Leon, but he came 'round in high school sometime." He answered. "And Brian?" I probed. I should really work on the whole nosiness thing. "Uh, well, he met Mia about a year ago and they been together since." "Cool." This was uncomfortable. A lot more uncomfortable than the usual barbs we exchanged. We walked to my door and he said goodnight and turned to leave. "Vince!" he turned and I couldn't really see his face in the dark, just the outline of his body against the street lamp light. "I'm sorry about jumping on your case yesterday outside the hospital." "Don't sweat it." He responded. "It's just that I've been under a lot of stress lately and the littlest things set me off." I tried to explain. "I'm the same way, I guess." "Well, uh, thanks for, uh, . . . everything!" I waved goodnight. He waved back and I could see him do the head nod thing.  
  
The Cutting Edge 5  
  
Vince POV  
  
I know that in a million years I will never understand chicks. I've accepted this. Even though Sira was totally pissed at me the other day, she came to the BBQ and treated me like it was no big deal. I expected to go at least another three rounds with her, but it was like she was a different person. She was relaxed, funny, and even kinda cool. So when I went to the hospital this morning, I figured things would be cool. I was so wrong. She was totally bitchy. Fuckin chicks! Once you gotta 'em pegged as bitches, they change on ya and then change back. I came outta my session with Jodi and walked toward the exit through ADMIN. I spotted Sira ahead, standing behind the ADMIN desk. I groaned. Great, another tumble before I leave.  
  
Sira POV  
  
It's been a long fuckin day. I massaged the back of my neck and suddenly felt strong fingers help me. Hoping it was Jodi, I let them massage my lower neck more. I jumped when I turned and saw that it was Macabee. Fucking bastard! How completely inappropriate is that!? "Um, excuse me Dr. Macabee but is there something I can help you with?" I turned and asked through tight lips. "Nurse Scorpio, I was just trying to help you feel better." He replied with a smooth voice. "Well, if I were you, I'd learn that kindergarten rule of keep your hands to yourself." I said in a fake sweet voice. "You seemed to enjoy it at first." He leaned forward and whispered. I took a step back and tried to control my disgust. "Something tells me she doesn't now." A deep grumble came from behind me. I turned quickly to see Vince standing with his arms crossed and his face in a frown. "Excuse me Mr . . ?" Macabee looked up at him. "Pallulette." Vince stated simply "Ah, yes, Mr. Pallulette. This is a confidential conversation between two co-workers, can you please excuse us." Macabee put on his most professional show. "Only if Nurse Scorpio says it's okay." Vince didn't move an inch. The both of them looked at me as I stood between them than them both. "Actually, I need to talk with Mr. Pallulette, so if you could please excuse us, Dr. Macabee." I took Vince's good arm and lead him toward the door. Macabee muttered something about finishing this later. "Well that was fun." I said in a low voice when Macabee was out of earshot. "Fucking asshole." Vince muttered. "I agree, but you can't go up against him like that Vince." "He was coming on to you right in front of everybody!" Vince whispered. "It's my problem." I stated calmly. "Fine, but I would do something about that if I were you because it looks like it's going too far." Vince looked away from me. "I can take care of myself Vince." He turned back to me. "Fine, whatever." He walked outta the doors. Shaking my head I walked back to ADMIN and Jodi came up to me. "I heard your boyfriend came to rescue you from Macabee." He laughed. "Shut up Jodi." I muttered.  
The Three Amigas 6  
Sira POV  
  
Getting off of ER duty at nine in the fuckin mornin' is the worst thing about my job. I look gross, I smell gross and I feel gross. But I have this love/hate relationship with the ER, sometimes it just sucks and sometimes I feel like I really made a difference. Sometimes it totally validates the whole reason of why I became a nurse. This was one of those days. I drove by Toretto's Grocery and decided to stop to get some bagels and juice and to say hi to Mia since I hadn't seen her in a week or so. "Hey girl." She greeted me from behind the counter. "Hi Mia, what up girl?" "Not much, did you just get off?" she asked, looking at my scrubs that were blotted with blood and other bodily fluids. "Yeah." I ordered some breakfast and sat to talk with her for a moment. "Hey, what are you doing tomorrow night?" She asked. I thought for a second. "Nothing, I guess. I have the weekend off." "Tomorrow night is Satuday Race Night." She informed me. After telling me a little about what that was, because I was clueless, she invited me to spend the afternoon with her and then go to the races. I agreed, it sounded like fun. I was a little surprised when she threw the word illegal in though. She looked like such a straight arrow. After leaving the garage, I went home and crashed until four. And I only woke up because of stupid Alfonso calling me again, but this wasn't the usual 'I want you back' bootie call. "Alfonso, I told you to leave me alone, when are you gonna get it through your thick greasy head?" I yelled into my cell phone. "YOU DON"T UNDERSTAND! YOUR'RE GONNA BE MINE!" He yelled back and then hung up. Great, I thought, just what I need; a stalker. I called to order a security system for my house right away.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Yo Letty!" I called across the garage. Letty stood up from detailing Brian's Supra, and gave an annoyed, questioning look. "It's Mia." I held up the office phone. She came and answered it then shoved me outta the office and shut the door. "What's the deal?" Dom came over and asked me. "Don't know, it was Mia asking for Letty." I shrugged. "Like they don't already talk every day?" he smirked. I laughed. "Hey, you racin tomorrow?" I asked him. He turned his head to look over at his car. "If I'm done with her by then. I got a shipment in from Harry's but Brian hasn't brought it over yet. If I get the new parts installed by tomorrow, then I'll race. But I know that both Letty and Leon are racin." He informed me. I nodded in agreement. Letty stepped outta the office with a smile on her face that faded as soon as she saw us with our questioning stares. "You girls done with your coffee break?" she commented, on her way back to Brian's Supra. "Just catchin up on what happened on General Hospital yesterday!" I joked back. She smiled and shook her head.  
  
Sira POV  
  
It was around five when I got to Mia's house on Saturday. As soon as I walked up the steps Mia rushed out of the front door and rushed me to her car. "I didn't want the guys to know you were coming out with Letty and me." She explained as she jetted down the street. When I asked why she just said, "Because it's none of their business. As it is, I'm gonna have to call and check in every hour or so that I'm gone. But that's fine because they always have stupid questions to ask me anyways." Mia imitated a deep voice, "Mia, where's the toilet paper, Mia should I use the microwave for mac n' cheese, Mia is this shirt clean?" We cracked up laughing. She pulled up to an apartment building and Letty ran down the front steps and jumped into the backseat. "Well ladies, let's go!" she yelped.  
  
"I don't know about this guys!" I yelled from a dressing room store. "I do!" Mia yelled back. After having a great dinner, shopping was on the agenda. "This skirt is really fitted and I don't know if I got all the straps and strings to this shirt tied right." I called out. I looked at myself in the mirror. This is not a good idea, I thought to myself. Mia handed dropped some shoes over the door. I picked them up and my mouth dropped. They had to have about a six inch heel. I dropped them back to her side. "No way!" She dropped 'em back over to me, and said, "Yes way!" I looked at them again, they did kinda go with the outfit. I shook my head. "No, we're just gonna have to find something else guys!" I took off the skirt, and untangled myself from the shirt and shoved em' under the door. "My turn." announced Letty. She came back and threw some black leather pants over and another tank, but one with straps I could identify as straps. I tried on the pants and kinda liked them. They were really low-rise and rested on my hips. The dark purple tank cris-crossed across my boobs and had a lacey fringe lining the bottom and stopped an inch above my belly-button, so my mid-driff was exposed. I walked outta the dressing room and Letty and Mia nodded in approval. Letty handed me some platform boots and I smiled a thanks to her. We went to my house and hung out just talking. I'd forgotten what it was like to just hang out and not rush somewhere or catch up on sleep. At around ten P.M. we started getting ready. Mia made me take my standard ponytail down and straightened my hair. I have to admit it doesn't look that bad, my usual plain, shoulder length, brown hair actually looked cute. She also made me put make-up on. But no lipstick, I wouldn't budge on that. Just really shiny lipgloss. We drove to this warehouse and I've never seen such beautiful cars in all my life! These were people who seriously took care of their rides. Letty seemed totally in her element.  
Vince POV  
  
"Did Mia call yet?" Brian asked Dom. I rolled my eyes, "Chill O'Connor I just saw Letty's car pull up." I told him. He walked toward her car. I turned my back and kept talking with Dom, Leon, Edwin, and Hector. Hector whistled low. "Who's the new mamacita, hombre?" He nodded toward Letty, Mia, and some other chick walking with them. We turned to look. This girl that was walking toward us with an unsure look on her face was definitely hot. Petite, with dark brown, straight hair, nice rack, tight stomach and curvy hips and ass. Dom, Leon, and I all turned our head to the side and at the same time clicked: it was Sira! "Oh, we know her, she's our neighbor. Okay, so one G buy in tonight guys and three races, K?" Dom was suddenly all business again. I couldn't take my eyes off of Sira. She looked so different, and real feminine, but kinda edgy too. Leon was equally distracted by her until Dom hit him upside the head. "Pull your mind outta your pants dawg." He said and Leon smiled. "Concentrate on the race would ya?" Dom reminded him.  
  
"Hey." Not the best entrance, but I was distracted by her new look. She nodded. "Almost didn't recognize ya. You look a hella lot different than at the hospital." I commented. "What tipped you off to that? The lack of scrubs or no white clogs." Sira responded. I laughed. "Good thing ya said something because then I really woulda thought it was someone else. Someone nice." I snapped back. "No danger of that here." She looked around. "So this is your scene uh?" "Yeah," I leaned against my car. "I like the nightlife." I grinned mischievously. "This how you hurt your arm?" She asked. "Nah, but that's a long story, let me introduce you around." I distracted her from that conversation. I don't think she really needs to know that story just yet. I introduced her to Hector and Edwin and some of the other usuals. Then Mia came and got her so they could ride together to spot where we'd race.  
  
Nights of Thunder 7  
  
Sira POV  
  
We came to a street and all the cars blocked off all the entrances to long strip of it. Mia and I got out of Letty's car and she drove to the starting line. "Is she really gonna race?" I asked. Mia nodded and smiled. "She'll kick his ass!" Mia yelled in support of Letty. I joined in cheering for her too. The Hector guy I met earlier was on the roof of a car and when he waved his hand the two cars at the starting line gunned it. It was over before I knew it and Letty had kicked his ass. As soon as she drove back to starting line she got out of the car and everyone had hugs and congratulations for her. I can't believe what had just happened! Suddenly, Letty pushed me into the backseat of her car and Mia climbed in the front and we sped off. "What happened?" I asked breathlessly, my adrenaline was pumping. "We have to meet somewhere else for the other races." Mia stated simply. She then explained that all this was illegal and the cops would catch us if we stayed in one spot too long. I congratulated Letty on her win and although she wanted to go home right away, Mia and I convinced her to go to the next race so we could see Leon win. We pulled up to another street and Letty parked her car so that it was blocking an intersecting street and we got out. "This is why I hate coming to races I'm not racing in." Letty gestured at Dom who was whispering in some girl's ear. Mia just put her arm around Letty and told her we could kick that girl's ass later. Letty smiled at that and we went to stand by Vince's car. After the race, which of course, Leon did win, Mia took off with Brian before the third race, for some private celebration and Letty left to go home. I accepted an offer to ride back with Vince since we were basically going to the same place.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"So that was the Saturday Night Races, huh?" Sira asked as she buckled herself into my car. "Yeah, what'd ya think?" "Interesting, and pretty cool. I saw a couple of Celicas there." "Yeah, but they are really supped up, don't think you can just come out here and race your factory car." I laughed. "Racing is not for me." She smirked. I looked at her questioningly. "Too dangerous?" "Nothing is too dangerous." She looked back at me and I turned my eyes to the road. "Please, girl. You look like the most dangerous thing you've ever done was turn in your library books late." I teased. "Well, you look like the only sensible thing you've ever done was make sure all your tattoos were spelled correctly." She replied. I had to laugh, she always had to have the last word. "Fine, name something dangerous, that you've done." I challenged. "Moving in behind you guys." She came back. I laughed and then made her name something else. "Uh, I've been skydiving," I raised my eyebrows as she continued. "I've been white water rafting, I've been rock climbing. I used to be a beach guard, and I'm a rescue diver." I just looked at her. Very interesting I thought. "So you just look innocent on the outside then?" "I don't think I look very innocent right now. Can you believe Letty and Mia talked me into this?" She laughed. She has a really nice laugh. "Well, I like it." I grinned. "You would! I hear you're into the racer chick-type." She smacked my arm. "Great! You've been talking to Letty and Mia right? I deny everything." I pretended to be annoyed. "Are you stayin for the party?" I asked as we parked in front of the Toretto house. "Nay, I gotta go to work tomorrow at ten AM and I might have some library books I still need to turn in." She gave me a sly smile as she stepped out of my car.  
Sira POV  
  
I walked up my driveway to see the one and only Alfonso. Mother Fucker!! What the hell is he doing on my doorstep at 2 AM?! "Hey baby." He cooed has he got off his ass and walked toward me. "Get off my property." I crossed my arms. "Is that any way to treat an old friend?" He gave a sly smile. What did I ever see in this guy? He stands at about six feet, has slicked back, black hair and brown eyes. If you just looked at him and he didn't open his mouth, he would be handsome. But now he just looks slimy to me. "Your not an old friend, you're a nightmare I'm trying to wake up from." I snapped at him. "I like that feistiness." He smiled big. Gross, I thought. We stood there staring each other down. I didn't even hear Vince coming up the sidewalk. "Hey Sira, you forgot your purse in my car." Vince came and stood beside me, holding my small black purse in his hands. He looked at Alfonso and nodded his head. Alfonso didn't acknowledge he was there. "Alfonso, I'd like you to meet my neighbor Vince." I announced, wondering exactly what would happen now. "Nice ta meet ya, Alonzo, was it?" Vince stuck his right hand out. I had to smile. "Alfonso." Alfonso shook his hand and glanced at me sideways. "Well, Alfresco, it's late and I really think you should leave now." Vince didn't make any excuses, he just ordered it. I stepped closer to Vince. Alfonso nodded his head and left. I exhaled deeply. "Thanks." I muttered and turned to walk toward my door. "Who was that greaseball? He looked like he just stepped out of a really bad mob movie." "I went out with him twice after Rob and I broke up and now he's all stalkin me 'n shit." I shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "Well, uh, be careful." He walked toward me and handed me my purse. "And call us if he ever shows up again, K?" I nodded. Vince walked back to his house. That was almost kinda sweet, I thought as I went inside. I really like living behind those guys, I already feel safer.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"What up girl?" I head-nodded to Sira as I walked into ADMIN. It's Tuesday, physical therapy day. She smiled. Must be a good day. "Hey, your late." She jokes. "Yeah, but I'm worth waiting for." "In your own dreams maybe." She scoffs. "Jodi is waiting on ya." Jodi gets on me about practicing my exercises at home. He's right. I need to spend more time on that if I ever hope to feel normal again. After my half hour with him, I walk out and find Sira arguing with that doctor guy again. Damn, she has to take a lot shit from that guy. An idea springs to my mind. "Hey baby." I walk up behind her and put my arm around her waist. Startled, she looks at me questioningly, then understands. "Uh, hey babe." She smiles. "I was just telling Dr. Macabee here that I had plans this weekend and therefore wouldn't have time to get together with him to discuss staying on this rotation longer." I nodded my head. "Yeah, it's our anniversary so we have plans." I pulled her closer to me. She smiled a fake smile at the doctor and so did I. "Hey baby, let me walk you out." She took my hand and led me to the door. "Damn, Vince, you're like my hero!" she smiled once we were out in the parking lot. "I do what I can." I shrugged. "Well it's good to know your good for something!" she smiled "I'm good for a lot of things." I smiled devilishly at her. Am I flirting, I wondered. "Yes you are," She smiled back. "Like changing my oil, driving me places, and keeping the hordes of guys that hit on me away!" "Ha, Ha." I laughed sarcastically.  
  
It's Just a Little Crush 8  
  
Sira POV  
  
Is it bad to crush on someone you have absolutely no future with, I ask myself for the millionth time since last Tuesday. I'm asking myself again, even as I sit and watch him grab a soda from a fridge in the Toretto Grocery store. He's all sweaty with oil and grease smudged on both of his arms. His tattoos are accentuated by his forearm and bicep muscles. His dark hair is shiny with sweat and grease and he's actually clean shaven for once, though I like the scruffy look too. Mmm, could eat him with a spoon, I thought. "Sira, what are ya doin tonight." Mia asks while making my sandwich. Her question brings me back to reality and I silently scold myself. "Uh, I don't know." I try to regain my composure. "Nothing I guess." I saw Vince look in my direction and I quickly turned toward Mia. "Well how 'bout Letty and I come over to your place and make margaritas?!" she asked with excitement. How could I say no? I love margaritas!! Vince kinda smirked and walked out the back door. Oh, he may not be what I had in mind for a future boyfriend, but he sure was nice to look at. I can't believe I'm drooling over some guy like some school-girl. I don't even know exactly when I went from being annoyed by him to being attracted. Maybe because of his over-protectiveness, or his sense of loyalty to his friends, or his oozing masculinity, or maybe it was just because he has a nice ass.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Yo! V, you down for some pool tonight?" Leon asked me from the office. "Yeah dawg!" I answered. He came out of the office and grinned. Leon's a pool shark and loves to show off his skills. "Cool cause we're gonna meet up with Hector and some of his boys and drink over at Eddies." "That's cool. Mia and Letty are goin' over to Sira's." I told him. Letty walked up to us with her clipboard in hand. "Hey Letty, be sure they give you a facial over there, 'cause grease can't be good for ya skin!" With that Leon smudged his hand on her face and she smacked him with the clipboard on his arm. He laughed, until she threw the clipboard down and socked him in the stomach, then he bent over. I started laughing, you never know with Letty, sometimes she'll just laugh shit off and sometimes, she'll knock you one. Letty glared at me. "Whoa champ! I didn't say nothin'!" I put my hands up. She looked over at Leon. "Don't be such a pussy!" she pushed Leon into the wall and walked off. "One of these days, I'm gonna kick her ass!" He muttered as recovered. "You and what army?" Dom laughed as he walked up to us. Leon just winced in pain.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Is there anything happening between you and Vince?" Mia asked me with uncertainty. I reached up and took glasses down from my cupboard. "No, nothing." I replied, not looking at her. "Why not?" Mia asks and Letty shoots her a look as she breaks out the blender. "Because we're just friends. Besides he's into racer chicks, right?" "He has been, but maybe he needs a change." Mia ignores Letty's stare and turns away from one of my magazines to look at me. "Well . . uh, I don't know if that change is me." I say quickly as I hand her some limes to cut. "It's just that you two seem to compliment each other. You know the whole opposites attract thing." She explains as she starts to cut them. "I like him, but I don't know if I want to pursue anything with him." Actually I did know. I am crazy about Vince, I just don't know if I want him to know it yet. And if I tell Mia, he'll know. "Now that we're talkin' 'bout guys." I started, "How 'bout spilling the beans to me on what happened between you and Dom?" I looked straight at Letty. She went still and looked at me thoughtfully. "It's a really long story." "I got time." I had no idea that by long story she meant epic. She sat down and told me everything. About how the crew had jacked trucks, how they got caught, how Jesse died, and how Brian used to be a cop and saved their asses. Everything. I couldn't believe it when she was done. "So, after the funeral, I moved out. That same day." She looked down to her lap. "Dom never said no, he let me go. I think he needed space too." "Whoa." I let out a huge breath.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Sira's a pretty cool chick." I said as we got some beers and headed over to a pool table to wait for Hector to show up. "Yeah." Leon agreed and Dom nodded his head too. "She's, like, really classy, but not in that stuck up way. And she's totally smart and funny and can rip on anyone." I laughed. After I took my shot I looked up to find Dom and Leon just looking at me smiling. "What?" I asked. "You like her!" Leon pointed and started laughing. I started shaking my head right away. "I do not bro!" I pointed back warningly. Dom took his shot and sank it. "V, you talk about her all the time and you actually look forward to going to the hospital." Dom looked serious. "Ask her out." "No way! She's just cool, but not like that!" I said in defense. "I'd get wit her. She's hot and feisty. I dig that in a chick." Leon said as he took a shot and it went in. I looked at him and gave him a 'don't even think about it' look. "What? I didn't say I was going to ask her out, just that, if I was you, I would." He sank another shot. "Why wouldn't you?" I asked suspiciously. He set up to take another shot and I put my cue in his way. He looked up. "Why wouldn't you?" I repeated "Bro, calm down. I just meant that it's obvious she's got the jones for you too." He took his shot. "What are you talking about?" "Well, bro, she's never shown any interest in either one of us." Leon pointed at himself and Dom. "But she still hangs around." "She's friends with Mia and Letty." Leon finally missed and I took a shot. "Fine, dawg. Don't believe me." Leon said as Dom took his shot. "V, she's cute, she's smart, she don't give a shit about cars. You don't have a chance in hell." Dom said with a smile. For some reason this got me pissed. "Fuck you guys!" Frustrated, I walked outta the pool hall. What the hell did they know? I talk about her because she's cool, not because I like her! I got in my car and drove back to the house, it was empty. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and went out to the garage.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"So that's how Vince hurt his arm." I said. Letty and Mia nodded. "Wow, that's a lot of information to digest on only one margarita." I got up from the couch and poured me another margarita from the fridge. "I told you because I thought you should know where our team is coming from. A lotta shit has gone down in the past and I don't really think it's over yet." Letty said as she got up and poured herself another one too. Mia stayed on the couch. "I think it's over. Save the drama, Letty, I mean, it's been, like ten months. Things have settled down." Mia said. Letty looked over at her doubtfully. "Anyways. Just thought you should know some stuff about V before you got involved wit him." Letty finished. We sat back on the couch. "You don't have to worry about that, Vince is totally not my type." I giggled. "Well, he doesn't write poetry if that's your type!" She joked, we all cracked up. "We have, like, nothing in common. He's like a man-child, and would require a helluva lot more attention than I could give him." I put my feet up and downed my drink. "Plus, I don't know shit about cars, or racing or video games. He'd be totally bored with me. And I like artistic guys." "Yeah, and look what that got you, an old one-eyed cat!" Mia giggled. We were getting a little tipsy.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I'm gonna call Suzanne! That'll prove that I want nothin to do with Sira! I picked up the phone and rummaged around in the kitchen drawer that Leon stuck her number in. I found it and started to dial, but quit after the first three digits. What the hell is wrong with me. Sira? First of all, even if Dom was jokin, he's right, I got no chance with a girl like her. All professional 'n shit. Second, where would she fit in to my life? I'm all about racin 'n fixin cars. There ain't no time in there for no lady. Especially one that aggravates me as much as she turns me on. Oh shit! Did I just . . .? Fuck!! She DOES turn me on! Shit, what the fuck am I gonna do now.  
  
Fools Rush In 9  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Uh, hey Sira." I tried to sound casual. Not working. "How's it goin there cutie?" I tried a smile. Not any better. "Hey baby, how you doin'?" Definitely not natural. "Sira baby, you, me, tonight." She's going to laugh in my face. Won't be the first time. I shrugged and stepped out of the bathroom. I looked around, good thing no one caught that little rehearsal. I'd never hear the end of it. I got dressed real quick then headed out to the hospital.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I tapped my fingers nervously on the desk at ADMIN. It's Friday, Vince's second physical therapy day of the week. Why did I memorize his physical therapy schedule, I ask myself. Oh shit, there he is. Okay, no big deal, I'll try to look busy. "Hey what up." I look up and Vince is standing right in front of the ADMIN desk. He's about fifteen minutes early, I noted to myself. "Hey Vince." I replied, trying to sound casual. I don't think it's working. "Uh, can I talk to you real quick." He asked, motioning with his head for me to come from around the desk area. I don't think that would be a good idea since just seeing you makes my knees turn to jell-o, I replied silently. But I surprisingly didn't fall when I got up and started walking with him slowly down the hall. "You look really nice today, I mean you look nice all the time. Uh, but today too." He stutters out. What? I look like I'm at the end of a seven to seven shift. Which I am but actually it's nine and I can't leave till ten. I hate Macabee. "Uh, thanks I guess." I manage to get the words out of my mouth. "I think I look like a train wreck." I tried to joke. "No way, you look good." I tried to smile, but my head was realing, is he flirting?  
  
Vince POV  
  
I really suck at this. Why is it so hard. Fuck it, I'm just gonna go for it. "Yeah, uh, so I was wondering if you were busy tonight?" I kinda mumbled, why can't I look at her, I wondered as I stared down at my boots. "Um, no not really." She answered. "That's cool, cause you work a lot and you could use the time off." What the fuck am I babbling about? I looked at her and noticed a look of disappointment. I didn't really know what to make of that. "Yeah, I've been working a lot lately." "Yeah, you have." I have no idea what to say now. Shit, what do I usually tell chicks? That doesn't help, I usually wait for them to hit on me. "Yeah." Could we say 'yeah' just a few more times? "If ya wanted to do something tonight . . ." I let my voice trail off. Her eyes perked up and she tilted her head to the side. "Vince, are you asking me out?" She asked. FINALLY!! She gets where I'm going with this. "Uh, yeah, if ya want." I tried to act cool. She looked straight at me, she wasn't buyin it. "Pick me up at six okay?" I nodded. "We'll go to dinner and maybe a movie, k?" I nodded again. "Now you better go see Jodi, I bet he's wonderin where you are." She turned and headed back to the ADMIN desk. I exhaled, that was easy. What was I all stressed about?  
  
Sira POV  
  
I can't believe I did that, I thought to myself as I made notes on charts at the ADMIN desk. After telling Mia and Letty all that shit about him not being my type, I ask him out. I must be smokin' somethin'! Vince came out of therapy and waved good-bye before leaving. I banged my head on the desk as soon as he was out of sight. "Uh, you okay Sira?" Jodi came up and asked me. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good." He looked at me doubtfully. "I gotta go, tell Macabee whatever ya want." I ran to the break room and grabbed my purse and jetted outta there.  
  
I want to be comfortable, but still get his attention, I thought as I sifted through the clothes in my closet. Unfortunately all I seem to own is khaki colored stuff. Except for my Race outfit. I pulled it out. He's already seen me in this though! I picked up the phone and called Mia, she came right over with keys to Letty's place and we went over there to find something. Too bad Letty was busy with the shop, but at least we got to raid her closet. And after an hour of constant changes I decided on an outfit. A black leather skirt that came to just above my knees with a high slit up my left thigh, a dark, red, long-sleeve shear top with a black satin tank underneath. Mia lent me some cute black heels and did my hair again. I left Letty's to go run some errands and hurried home to get ready.  
  
The Case of the Ex 10  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Rob, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked as I opened the door. "Sira I miss you and I couldn't stand living without you." He started tearing up as he followed me into my living room. Mother fucker started crying. After all the shit he put me through, he's the one crying? "By the way, what are you wearing?" I rolled my eyes at his questions and ignored them. "Well ya seemed fine when ya kept callin for your stupid cat." As if on cue, the one-eyed furball came strutting into the living room. She hissed at Rob and ran into the kitchen. I had to laugh. "There she is Rob, think she's pissed?" I asked sarcastically. I walked into the kitchen and he followed. "I ask again Rob, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked as I put earings on "Sira, I was a fool. An insensitive, cruel fool!" He was still on his knees and hobbled after me. I turned around and saw him hold roses up to me. I had to laugh. That seemed to upset him because he jumped to his feet and started waving the flowers in my face. "Look Sira, I came here to give us another chance and now your laughing at me?" He was pissed, which just made me laugh harder.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I dug my hands in my pockets and walked up Sira's driveway to her front door. Once I got up the drive I saw that her front door was open and instantly got a bad feeling. I stepped in and heard voices. I followed them to see Sira yellin at some pale guy dressed completely in black in the kitchen. She looked amazing.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Vince." I said as I saw him standing in the entrance to the kitchen. I was so embarrassed that he had to see me arguing like a child with Rob. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you." He looked from me to Rob and turned to leave. "No! Vince please stay. I'll be ready to go in one minute. Uh, this is Rob and he was just leaving." Rob opened his mouth to object, but closed it once he took a look at Vince. "Actually I just got here and Sira and I need to talk, so if you could please find your way out." Rob told Vince after a long pause. I could see Vince try to control his anger. Not much chance of that I thought. "Only way I'm leaving is if she asks me to go." Vince stood his ground. I looked from Rob to Vince and got déjà vu. I guess when it rains men, it pours, and I'm soaked. "Look Rob, I don't want to talk to you. Pick up your roses, your poetry and get out." I tried to sound stern but I was mostly just trying rush him out of the house. He just looked at me like I was crazy. "Rob! Exactly what about 'get out' do you not understand?" "I understand that you would rather converse with this Neanderthal than with a man who understands you." I rolled my eyes at him. "Rob you don't understand shit. Because if you did then you'd already be gone." "Well, I refuse to leave." "Your acting like a spoiled child!" I yelled, finally, I'd had enough of his crap. "Your acting like a bitch!" he yelled back. I rolled my eyes and exhaled. How do you respond to an idiot with the maturity of a five-year- old? Vince, who had been watching silently, grabbed Rob by the shirt and practically lifted him off the ground.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Don't you ever fuckin' talk to her that way." I grabbed the guy's shirt and yanked him toward me then shoved him against the wall. He hit it hard and then tried to stand. "GET OUT!!" My voice boomed and even Sira looked startled. Rob got up shakingly and pointed his finger at Sira. "Sira, what the hell is going on here! We were together for over a year!" I grabbed is arm and punched him in the face with my left hand. He fell over quickly and his nose started bleeding. "Don't you ever point at her again!" I yelled as I stood over him. I looked over at Sira and she had a look on her face, like she had just seen a murder. She ran over and started yelling. "What the fuck Vince! Are you out of your mind! Get out! Get out! Get out!" She got in my face. What the hell is up with that, I wondered as I left the house.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I kneeled beside Rob and wiped the blood off his nose. I gave him an ice pack and helped him off the floor. How did everything get so out of control? I can't believe Vince just hit a guy he didn't even know because of me? That's crazy. It wasn't like Rob was gonna hurt me. He was just being a prick. "You better go Rob. It's over. And there's nothing more to discuss. The cat stays." I looked at him and could see I wouldn't have to argue with him. He just nodded and left the house silently. I called over to the Toretto house as soon as he left. "Hello." Mia answered. "Hey Mia, may I speak with Vince please?" I asked. "I thought he went over to pick you up." She answered, confused. "He did but then some shit happened and he left." "What? Well he's not here." "Shit!" "What happened Sira?" Mia asked in a serious tone. I told her about Rob and everything. "Well, girl, that's V for ya. I'll send the boys out to get him." "I wanna go too." "Uh-uh, no way, he's probably really pissed off right now and he won't be easy to deal with. Dom and Leon will go find him and hopefully calm him down." "Mia, I really need to talk to him." "Sira, you need to listen to me. V is a hot head, he needs time to cool off before any rational discussion will come outta him." "Fine." "I'll call you when he comes back, k?"  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Yo! V!" I heard Dom call out from the entrance to the garage. I rolled out from under the Honda I'd been working on to try and get my head straight. "What up dawg?" "What's up wit you bro?" Leon asked. "Nuttin man." I wiped my hands off on a rag. "Don't front V, Sira called the house looking for ya." Dom said. I exhaled and shook my head. I just didn't know what to make of that girl. She asks me out and then when I stand up for her she throws me out of her house? I would never let someone disrespect me the way that fool was. "I hit her ex, then she threw me out. She obviously still wants him, so what am I wasting my time wit her for?" I said as I threw a wrench against the garage wall, it banged loudly. Dom and Leon just watched, as I went to pick it up and then threw it again. "Better?" Dom asked. "A little." I answered. "You wanna go home?" Leon asked. "Not yet." "Cool." Dom said and they left.  
  
I walked into the house about an hour later. Avoiding Mia, I went straight to Leon's room in the basement. "Bro, I got something of a proposal for ya." I said as he shut off his T.V. "Whoa, uh, V, I know Sira hurt you and all but that's no reason to turn to guys!" He held up his hands in protest. I threw the booklet I was carrying at him. "Please, dawg, if I was that way, I could do way better than you. What I'm talkin' 'bout here is a move." He looked at me all confused. "Moving outta the Toretto fort and getting some digs of our own. Open that to page eight." I pointed to the booklet I had thrown. He looked at it and I pointed the house in the corner of the page. It was a two bedroom, two bath, one story house. It needed some work but it was affordable and we could probably buy it if we went in on it together. "Uh, move out? Us?" He asked. I nodded my head. "I don't know V. I mean I never really thought about it. Why would I? I've lived here, for, like, six years." "Don't you think it's time to stop living in the protection of the fort. I think it's time to go. Not to stop being a team but to stop crowding up this place." "I don't think Mia would look it that way, or Dom. They'd think we were ditching them. Besides if you want to leave, that's cool, but why do you want me to go with you?" "Bro, I can't afford the place on my own. Besides I just thought you might be feelin the same way. I'm not sayin we have to leave tomorrow, but you should really think about it dawg." With that, I got up and left the booklet with him.  
  
Making Changes 11  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Mia can I talk to Vince." I called for the fourth time since Friday. "Sorry Sira, he's at the hospital." "But it's Monday, aren't his appointments on Tuesday." "Uh, he switched them." "Oh." I felt like crying, but I struggled to maintain an even voice on the phone. "Well, I'll see you later Mia." "Sira, I've tried to talk to him, but he's being really stubborn." She tried to explain. "It's okay Mia. Bye" I hung up the phone and fought back tears. Why was I so upset anyways? It was just Vince. Some guy I met and kinda liked. But for some reason I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to that guy. Something that I just wasn't seeing but could feel and it wouldn't let me give up.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Sira called for you again." Mia said as I walked in the kitchen door. I just nodded and headed to the living room. "Are you ever gonna call her back V?" She called after me then followed me. "Nope." I answered. "What?" She asked as if she couldn't believe it. "But you guys were so close!" "I ain't messin with a chick that's still hung up on her ex. It ain't worth it Mi." "V . ." "Mia, let it go." She crossed her arms. Well, might as well tell her now. "Mia, Leon and I are buying a house." Her eyes got big and she sat down on the couch silently. "It's about six or seven houses down the block and across the street Mi." I quickly continued. "Why?" Dom asked from the kitchen doorway. Shit, I thought, I was hoping to tell Mia and then she'd tell Dom. But as I saw tears form in Mia's eyes, I started wondering if it wouldn't have been easier the other way around. "Because bro, we've crowded this place too long." "You didn't used to feel that way." Mia said on the verge of tears. "It's not a big deal, we'll be right down the street." I took a step toward the couch and Mia got up. "Fine, whatever." She left the living room and went upstairs. "Fuuuuuck." I muttered and sat down. "Look, I understand about needing your own place dawg." Dom sat down. "Thanks Dom. Can you try to explain it to Mia?" "She'll get over it, it's just a reminder that Jesse doesn't live here and that Letty moved out. Now all she has is me. You know her, she likes having people to take care of." "Yeah, I know. It seriously isn't anything personal. Just need to make some changes, ya know?" "Any of these changes have to do with a nurse we know?" "Don't start with that shit Dom. Everyone has tried to talk to me about that and I don't want to hear it, k?" "Fine, whatever." He walked out to the garage. Damn, were he and Mia related or what.  
  
This Old House 12  
  
Sira POV  
  
I walked into the one-story house with boxes scattered all over the place and only two big pieces of furniture. An ugly-ass couch and kitchen table. I could immediately hear Leon and Letty bickering in a back bedroom. This must be it, I thought and followed the noise down the hall. Standing in the doorway I couldn't help but laugh at them. "What the fuck is this? Trading Spaces? No way am I putting that picture in here!" "I am just trying to lighten the room up a little bit." Letty snapped. "What the fuck is 'Trading Spaces'?" Dom asked, he was standing in the corner holding the picture in question. It was a Van Gogh print of A Starry Night, or something like that. "Some show Mia watches." Leon answered "Yeah, but none of you look as good as Ty the carpenter." I said and walked in. Letty smiled. "Where's V?" I asked. They all exchanged glances and then Letty pointed and said, "Down the hall on the left." I nodded and smiled thanks. "Knock, knock." I said while entering a completely empty room. Vince stepped out of the connecting bathroom and just looked at me. "Hey." He said and then pulled some measuring tape out of his pocket and started measuring the doorframe. I turned to face his back. "Vince, I'd really like to talk about last week." "Really? I don't." he didn't look up from his measuring. "So is this it Vince? We have a problem and we don't talk about it?" I asked him, starting to get frustrated. "Not when the problem is your ex-boyfriend." He continued his work. Now I'm really getting pissed. "He's not a problem!" "Then why did you get mad when I hit him? It's obvious that you still love him." "WHAT?!?!" I yelled. "Just cause I don't want you knocking the shit out of him, doesn't mean I still love him! What kind of fucked up logic do you have?" He turned around to face my yelling. "He was bothering you, I told him to leave, he didn't, so I hit him and then YOU got mad at ME! What kind of fucked up logic do YOU have?" He pointed at me. I can't believe what I'm hearing! "I was pissed that you chose to use violence instead of keeping your cool." "Hi, I'm Vince, have we met?" He stuck his hand out. "I can't keep my cool with a jerk like that! Don't you know that by now! If someone I care about is at stake then I'm on it!! Violent or not." I left the room and started walking toward the door. "Yeah! If you want a wuss, call Rob, maybe he'll write you another poem!" He yelled after me as I walked out.  
  
Vince POV  
  
Fuck, I really fucked that up! Fuck it. I did the right thing. Anyone messes with your girl, you fuck 'em up. Simple as that. I gave him a warning. I laughed to myself. Shoulda known he'd fall after one hit, he's a poet! "Real smart V!" Letty told me from the hall. "Stay out of it Let." I warned her. "Ya gonna knock the shit outta me too?" she challenged. I walked toward her. I've never been so pissed at her. Dom stepped out of Leon's room. "Cut your shit you two." He looked right at me. Shoulda known that no matter what, he always takes Letty's side. Letty looked from him to me. "I don't know which one of you is stupider." She muttered then left the house. "Don't take your anger out on her bro." Dom said after she left. "Shut up Dom!" I can't believe how riled up Sira got me. "You know I did exactly what you would have done." Dom shook his head. "Oh that's bullshit Dom, anytime any guy made a move on Letty you went ballistic!" "Yeah, and look what it got me. An ex-girlfriend that can barely stand to be around me." Dom said as we walked into the kitchen where Leon was. "Didn't go to well with Sira did it?" He handed me a Corona. I shook my head. "Just bail, bro." Leon advised. "Just bail." "You don't understand dawg. It ain't that easy." "Is she pregnant or are you in love with her? If the answer to both is no, then bail." He reasoned. I looked at him. "She's not pregnant, I know that." I answered. "Then are you in love with her?" he asked. Him and Dom looked at me intently. I shrugged and walked up back to my new room. It seemed really empty. Dom walked in. "Look, I know I ain't an expert in love and women 'n shit. But I do know some shit about jealousy and about listening to your girl. Look dawg, Sira is different then all the women you've eva been wit. You have to talk with her." "Like the way you talked with Letty, when she moved out?" It was a low blow, but Dom doesn't know everything. "Look, I'm just tryin to help." Dom stood up, obviously frustrated. "You have a chick out there that obviously cares about you and you're pushing her away!" "Yeah? Well at least I've only done it for a week. You pushed Letty away for four years!" I pushed past him and stormed out the front door. After getting into my car I peeled out and drove off.  
  
Beautiful Girls 13  
  
Sira POV  
  
I can't believe I ever thought that something good could come outta this! I barged into my house and slammed the door. I paced in my kitchen trying to calm myself down. The door opened a few minutes later and Mia and Letty stepped into the kitchen. I just looked at them and kept on pacing. After about five minutes of silence, I finally had composed myself enough to say something. "I know he's like a brother to you guys, but I can't help it if I think he's a complete asshole." Letty smiled at me. "He is an asshole, all men are!" She took a seat on my kitchen counter top. Mia sat down on one of the bar stools. I continued to pace. "I have this image in my head of what the perfect guy is like. And then I have this image of Vince and when I lay one on top of the other they don't fit at all. Not even a little. Vince is completely outside of the lines. But yet, I can't get over this, even though he's being a complete asshole, I still want to work things out. We could at least go back to being friends. And he said he cared about me." I finally stopped pacing and sat on my floor, leaning up against the cabinets. "Well, Sira, you got to make a decision. Is V worth it? I mean, is he worth the extra effort you're gonna have to put in. He's not just gonna cave ya know." Letty tried to give it to me straight. I appreciated that.  
Vince POV  
  
When I got back to the house Dom and Leon were still there and they had just ordered a pizza. Brian was there too. Great, I thought, I just wanna get drunk and go to sleep. Well, as soon as I stepped into the kitchen I found out that the guys were already halfway there. "Vince!" They cried. All the words said between Dom and I this morning were quickly forgotten. "What up." I grabbed the corona that Brian handed to me and sat down. "We were just talking about chicks. You want in on this bro?" Leon passed a pizza box to me. I grabbed a couple of slices. "We've decided that the more beautiful a girl is, the more trouble she is. This is an educated theory bro. One that we've all done years of research on!" Leon stated as he threw some breadsticks my way. I couldn't help but laugh. He always got all logical when he was buzzing. "Well, I agree." I clanked bottles with him and downed my beer, then grabbed another. "That may be true, but I swear, I wouldn't want my world without those beautiful girls in it." Dom said smiling. "Hell, I can drink to that!" exclaimed Brian. "Speaking of beautiful girls. Mia's still kinda hurt that you two moved out. She took it kinda personally so try to make sure that you tell her it wasn't because of her." Dom told us. Leon and I nodded. "Maybe she can help us, like, put stuff up here, ya know. To make it look better." Leon suggested. "You mean decorate?" Brian laughed. "Yeah, Martha Stewart! Unless you wanna do it!" Leon gave Brian a shove and he laughed. "Letty didn't do a good job?" Brian asked laughing. "That girl! I swear, for a chick who's into cars 'n shit, she really has a thing for art. She tried to get me to put some painting in my room. But I put my foot down, I told her to forget about it."  
  
Sira POV  
  
"You know what? If he just knew the good time he was missin with me. I bet he'd come running!" I yelled over the blending sound of the blender. I love my blender! I'm on my fourth, no, wait a second, fifth margarita! "I don't think I should have a knife in my hands right now Sira!" Mia yells from across the kitchen where she's supposed to be cutting more limes. "I'll fucking do it then." Letty grabs the knife and slices the limes in two seconds flat. "See, no problem chica!" She holds the limes up proudly and tosses them to me. Squealing, I fail to catch them. I pick them up off the floor and squeeze them into the blender anyways. "Five-second rule!" I giggle as I continue to blend with my wonderful blender. Who needs a man when I got a blender!! Mia turned on my stereo and put in her Nikka Costa CD. Now it was time to dance!! As we were shakin our thang and jumping from couch to couch, Mia's cell phone rang. Letty hit mute and we listened in. "Oh, uh, hey babe." We giggled as Mia tried to sound sober. It was so cute, her face got all scrunchy! "We're just talking over at Sira's. Where are you? . . . . . Oh, that's cool." She tried not to laugh, but it wasn't easy as Letty started refilling her glass. "No we're not drinking! Are you drinking? Well good, I'm glad we're both not drinking! K! Bye!" She hung up, then started rolling on the floor laughing. "He's over a Leon and Vince's and totally drunk!! He just lied to me but I don't care 'cause I lied too!! Only, I'm better at it!!" We all started laughing. "Are all the guys over at V and Leon's?" Letty asked as she helped Mia off the floor. "Yeah." Mia giggled. "I got an idea. Are you guys up for some fun!" Letty asked with a devilish grin on her face. Mia and I looked at each other and then at Letty and nodded with big smiles  
  
Vince POV  
  
"So how's the wife?" I asked as Brian came back into the kitchen. "Funny. I don't think she could tell I'm drunk." "Is she at home?" Dom asked. "Nah, she's at Sira's talking the girl talk and shit." Brian replied. "You're a lucky man, dawg." Leon said and clanked bottles with Brian. Dom and I nodded in agreement. "She's amazing man." I said. I was only on my fourth beer and these guys were almost drunk. "Yeah, she is. But she's not without her own problems." Brian sat back. "Like what?" Leon asked. "She over-reacts about everything. If I hadn't called her just now, I would have mean message on my voice-mail and a twenty minute lecture about it tomorrow. If she knew I was drunk, well, add on another twenty minutes." Brian laughed and we all joined in. We'd all been lectured by Mia on more than one occasion for something. "At least she's not Letty." We all rolled our eyes. Here he goes, I thought, bitchin about how she was and then whining about how they're over. This is gonna be a long fucking night and I'm gonna need another beer.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this!" I whispered in into the darkness as we creeped around the back of Vince's house and then to the side and slowly toward the front and ducked behind the bushes. "Shhh." Was Letty's reply. Mia and I just giggled. "Okay, go for it Mia." Mia took her cell out and started dialing. "Brian! You guys gotta come over to Sira's quick! All of you, hurry! I think something's really wrong with . . ." she hung up and smiled at us. "Oops, guess we got disconnected!" She smiled. "Pick up the hoses!" Letty instructed as we heard lots of commotion and then the front door opening and heavy feet barreling down the porch. Our three little heads peaked out from behind the bushes that were covering us and as soon as we saw all the guys we turned the hoses on them and started spraying!!  
  
Vince POV  
  
"What the fuck!!" I yelled. "Ahhhhhhhh!!" I could here Leon squealing like a girl. Dom and Brian had similar reactions. "Who the fuck is out there!" I screamed. I could hear giggling coming from the left side of the house. Damn it!! Those damn chicks! Oh it is so on! "You wanna play?" I charged the hoses and tackled one of them and started trying wrestle the hose out of her hand. From what I could hear, Leon, Brian, and Dom were doing the same. "I give, I give, I give!!" a familiar voice started screaming. "Oh, yeah? I don't believe you!" I yanked on the hose real hard and it came loose from her grip. Then I realized it was Sira. I paused for a moment. Then I decided that if she wanted mess with the big dawgs that was fine, just be ready for the bite! I grabbed her off the ground and threw her over my shoulder and then dropped her in the middle of the front yard. Dom did the same with Letty and Leon and Brian each had one end of Mia and flung her on top of the other two. Then we stood back and sprayed them! I've never heard such high pitched shrieks! "Well, did you think the water was going to be warm!" I laughed at them. They kept on screaming. Finally, Dom cut his hose and so did Leon and I. We started laughing as they sat there drenched and shivering. "Aw babe! Are you okay?" Brian helped Mia up and hugged her. We all rolled our eyes. Leon tried to help Letty who just grabbed his arm and yanked him to the ground, then got up by herself and smiled. Smiling, I extended my hand to Sira who was still laughing. She grabbed it and pulled herself up and into my arms. She grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me toward her and I met her lips hard and fast. Completely caught off guard I just stood there as she slipped her tongue into my mouth. After a couple of seconds of unbelief I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her and kissed her back. Our tongues started to move against each other and the heat developing in our mouths was starting to warm me up. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I held her tighter. I didn't give a shit about Rob or anything else at that moment.  
  
Oh Boy 14  
Sira POV  
  
I pulled away from Vince and searched his eyes for something. I don't know what I was expecting to see. He just looked right back at me, then pulled me toward him and lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He started walking toward the house and I started to wonder where everyone else had gone, then I heard noises from the kitchen. Vince took me to his empty bedroom and he stumbled and we fell to the floor laughing. I brushed my hair out of my face and saw him looking at me. "What Vince, didn't think I knew how to have fun?" "You are one confusing chica, that's all. I mean, usually . ." I grabbed his face and kissed him, then pulled away. "Shut up Vince." I smiled. He smiled back and rolled on top of me. His kiss was soft and gentle and left me breathless. I had no idea Vince could be so sensual. My hands reached under his shirt and I felt his skin under my hands and couldn't help but rap my legs around him again. He pulled away and I noticed that both of us were breathing heavily. "Lets go in the kitchen." He said breathlessly. I looked at him confused. "Uh, Vince, everybody's in there." "I know but if we stay in here much longer I can't promise that things won't get out of control." "What if I want them to get out of control." He smiled and kissed me roughly, his tongue penetrating my mouth hungrily. He pulled back again. "I really don't think rug burns are sexy and I don't even got a blanket moved in here yet. So maybe we should just join the team in the kitchen." He made sense, so we got up and walked into the kitchen and were greeted by hoots and whistles.  
  
Vince POV  
  
Who woulda thought? Turns out Sira's bossy nurse side is kinda sexy. She took charge and I just sat back and enjoyed it. After everyone was sufficiently drunk, I told her I'd walk her home. "So do you still think that I'm in love with Rob still?" She asked as she griped my hand tighter and leaned into me. "If you do, you're really bad at it." I laughed and put my arm around her. She smiled. We walked up to her doorstep. I know what I want to do, but I wait for her to make a move. She takes my hand and pulls me inside slowly. "Do you want some water or something to eat?" She asks as she searches for the light switch. Catching her off guard I pulled her to me in the dark. "I just want to know the way to your bedroom." I whisper. I could feel her smile against my lips.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I led him to my room with only the moonlight creeping in the windows to guide us. As we stepped into the room it was like it suddenly became excruciatingly hot and all I wanted was to take off all my clothes, just to cool off. Luckily, Vince felt the same way. I backed up against the bed and sat down, as he leaned over to kiss me, I ran my hands under his t- shirt and peeled it off of him. We kept kissing as I undid his belt buckle and then his jeans. His jeans dropped to the floor and he stepped out of his boots and his jeans and pulled me back against the bed till I was laying on it. Skillfully he pulled my tank top straps down and wiggled it off of me along with my shorts. Then, there we were, making out on my bed with the only things to separate us were his boxers and my string bikini underwear. His kisses traveled to my neck and he softly caressed my left breast with his hand. I looked at his scars and remembered everything that Letty and Mia had told me. I lightly pushed him off of me and tried to sit up. Confused, he laid back and put his hands over his face. "What happened?" It was more of a statement than a question. I looked down at him and moved his hands away from his eyes. I reached across him to my nightstand drawer and after fumbling around for a minute, I pulled out a condom and put it in his hand. He smiled. "Vince, Letty and Mia told me how you hurt your arm." I looked in his eyes and saw his confusion. "I just wanted you to know that I know. And I don't care." I looked down to my lap. He sat up and took my hands. "I would have told you." I nodded. He lifted my chin with his hand and kissed me gently. I could feel the restraint and I pressed him back into the bed and straddled him. I could feel him hard against me and it made me kiss him more passionately. He rolled me over and slipped my panties off, he took his boxers off and I reached for the condom that was laying right by me. He looked into my eyes as I ripped the package open and discarded it on the floor, and he smiled as I sat up and rolled it onto him. I pulled on his neck and brought him down to the bed with me. He kissed me as he rubbed the head against my clit. I could feel my juices flowing out onto my inner thigh. He slipped his dick in easily and started pumping. His hand ran over my breasts and he grasped one as he started thrusting into me harder. "Oh God!! Vince!" I couldn't be silent any longer, it just felt too good. "Oh yeah!" "You like it baby?" My hips bucked against his. "Ohhhhhhhh, harder, V, please!" I can't help it if I'm sort of a talker. As he stroked in and out of me, I came before him. I rolled over on top of him and started rocking, as he came he sat up and pushed my hips into him, trying to go deeper and deeper.  
  
A Simple Plan 15  
  
Sira POV  
  
I leaned down and kissed Vince's cheek, he smiled. "What are you doing?" he grumbled as he sat up, eyes only half open. "Gotta go to work." I replied, as I kissed his ear, then his neck. "What time is it?" He rubbed his eyes. "6:30 am." I kissed his bare, tattooed shoulder. "Shit, Sira, I didn't even know 6:30 am existed." He moaned. "I didn't want to wake you, but I thought a note would be cliché." I continued kissing his neck. He bent his head down and reached his hand to behind my neck and kissed me passionately. I didn't even mind the morning breath. Much. I pulled back and stood up beside my bed. "Hey don't start something you can't finish girl." He gave me a sly smile. "Sorry, but gotta go. I put instructions for the alarm on the kitchen table, laters." And I left.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I would swear last night was a dream if I hadn't actually woken up in Sira's bed. It still even smelled like her. I got up and got dressed when I noticed it was 9am. Good thing it's Saturday, I thought. I set the alarm and left through the garage since those were the instructions she left for me. I walked over to the Toretto's and was immediately sorry that I just didn't go straight to my new house. "There's the stud!" Letty yelled from the living room as I walked in the door. "Finally got yourself some! It's about damn time!" Leon added. I walked into the kitchen to see Mia and Brian eating breakfast. They both looked at me and smiled big. "Oh shut the fuck up!" was my reply. "I thought your supposed to be more relaxed after sex." Brian joked. "Maybe the way you do it, but I do it right and it just leaves me wanting more." I replied as I made me some breakfast. "Trust me, he does it right." Mia said with a sly smile as she got up to put her dishes in the sink. "Aww, quit it with that shit Mi, I'm tryin to eat here!" I protested. "So where's your bed buddy?" Brian asked. I looked at him seriously. "Don't even joke like that fool. Sira had to go to work." I answered. "Whoa, sounds serious." He got up and stood by Mia. "Yeah." She agreed. "Oh, for fuck's sake! Can't a man eat breakfast in peace without a fucking interrogation." I said with my mouth full of cereal. Mia just giggled and Brian gave her a kiss and then left to go to work at Harry's. "So things cool with you two? Work everything out last night." Mia sat down and asked. "Yeah, I think so." I couldn't help but smile at the memory of last night. "Yeah, I bet." Letty said from the doorway. "Mia, I'm going to work. "Don't forget about tonight!" Mia smiled. Letty rolled her eyes and left. "What's all that about? Aren't you guys going to the races?" I asked as I slurped the milk from my bowl. "Uh, nah, cause, only Dom's racin and you know Let don't really wanna be around for that." She replied as she took my bowl to the sink and washed it. "What are you guys gonna do then?" I asked. "Nothing." "Nothing?" "Nothing." "Uh, Mia, is there something I should know about?" I asked. "Nope." She walked into the living room and I followed. "Does Dom know you're not going to the races tonight?" "Is it any of your business? You don't even live here anymore." She quickly pointed out. Ouch, that hurt. She must still be kinda pissed. "That don't mean shit Mia. I'm still around and you know I make everything my business." She picked up her purse and grabbed her keys. "Vince, don't worry your pretty little lovestruck head about anything, nothing's going on that you should know about. Move the rest of your shit and relax." She put her sunglasses on and left to the shop.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"You rang?" I asked Jodi as I walked up to the ADMIN desk. "Someone is on the phone for you." I grinned real big and took the phone. "Ooooh, must be someone special." He said and I playfully punched him in the arm. "Hello sexy." "Whoa there Sira, it's not V." A voice said laughingly. "Letty? Uh, hey, what's up?" I asked, embarassed. "I just wanted to talk to you." "Yeah, I don't buy that Letty, what's going on?" "Well, Mia set me up on this blind date sorta and well, I don't really want to go on it but I understand that I should start seeing other guys, especially since Dom definitely sees other girls. But I'm just really not into it and I'm kinda riled up about it." "Whoa, a blind date? Are you nervous?" "No, yes, I mean, uh, I don't know. I guess I'm not as ready as I thought I was and Mia is making me do it and I just needed to talk to someone about it and I can't with Mia cause she'll just say 'Your going and that's all there is to it' and Vince or Leon will tell Dom and I don't want that cause he won't handle it well. You know how bad V is? Well, Dom is worse." "Do you wanna get out of it?" "I don't know. I mean, it would be cool to meet someone new and Mia says he's really cool. But after all the shit, I am still getting used to being by myself ya know?" "Yeah, I totally understand. Look if you don't want to go, tell me and we can think of an excuse." "Okay, well, I should let you get back to work right? Thanks for listening, bye" "Bye." This is probably one of those things I keep to myself. She's right, Dom would flip, even I know that and I don't even know him that well.  
  
Vince POV  
  
With the whole day off and Sira at work, I had plenty of time to concentrate on moving. Leon and I finished up by dinnertime and were exhausted. I called Sira around five but only got her voicemail. I left her a message inviting her to the races. "Is she coming with us?" Leon asked as I got off the phone. "Don't know for sure, but I left a message. Letty and Mia aren't goin." "That's no surprise, Dom's racin." "Yeah, what about whitebread, he comin?" Leon laughed and shrugged. "Don't know bro." I called Brian and asked him if he was comin to the races. "Nah, just gonna hang out with Mia." I hung up with him. "Lemme guess! He's hangin with his girl!" I nodded. "Yeah, but she's hangin with Letty tonight. It's kinda weird too, cause Letty didn't seem to excited about hangin out with Mia tonight." I pointed out. "Maybe because it's not that exciting to hang out with just Brian and Mia." Leon joked. "I'm serious. Something don't feel right. Like their not telling us everything." "Don't be so paranoid dawg." "So paranoid about what?" Dom walked in the back door to our kitchen. He stepped over boxes and sat down. "Nothin'." Leon answered and handed him a beer "You ready for tonight?" I asked. "Fo sure dawg. I haven't raced in a few weeks. I'm definitely ready to win some money and school some punks." "Aww yeah!" Leon said enthusiastically. "Who's going tonight?" Dom asked. Leon and I exchanged glances. "Just us bro." "Where's Mia gonna be?" "With Brian." "Oh, figures. Get a man, forget your fam." He shook his head, but I could tell he wasn't really that pissed. "And I assume that since I'm racing, Letty won't be there?" I nodded. "Yeah, thought so." His face got serious for a moment, then he lightened up and we started talking about some of the new racers that had showed up on the scene lately.  
  
Sira POV  
  
After a ten hour shift I finally got home around seven p.m. I smiled as I heard my message from Vince. That boy, shit, he makes me crazy. As soon as I set down the phone it rang again and from the caller ID I could see it was Letty. "Hey girl." "Hey, uh, do you want to come over and help me get ready for my date?" "Sure! Can I borrow some clothes for the race tonight?" "Yeah, that's cool." We hung up.  
  
"Here's the plan girl." Letty said as I sat on her bed and she threw out clothes from her closet. "You're going to the races right? Well, I know the guys are gonna grill you on what Mia, Brian, and I are doing. Just tell them that we went to hang out at a friend of Mia's house. Since that is what we are doing, you won't be lying which is important because lying is taken very seriously with our team. But don't give anymore details. If they ask, just say you don't know. The less said about it, the better." "So, what will you guys be doing?" "We're going over to this chick's house, I think her name is Rose, and she's having a party. First, though, we are going to have a drink with this guy Chris, that's the one they want to hook me up with. And then the four of us will go over to Rose's party." She tossed some shoes out too. "Okay, sounds like a plan to me." I replied as I looked through some of the clothes she'd thrown on the bed. "The thing is to distract them from even asking questions. Vince is paranoid all the time. If Dom picks up on it he'll get concerned too. Especially if he thinks it has something to do with me."  
  
"I thought you and Dom were over. Why would he care if you date someone else?" "It's kinda hard to explain. There's a lot of history between us. I've never been with anyone else, so in a way I still belong to Dom. If I date someone else, I don't think that it will be that big of a deal, but what if things work out and we start dating. You and Vince is no big thing, but with me it'll be different. You know how testosterone driven the guys are. Introduce a new guy to them and they get all defensive. You shoulda seen them with Brian at first." She explained.  
  
I stepped onto Vince's doorstep and did a once over for the millionth time. I was wearing Letty's dark purple, pleather, flare-leg pants. The rested on my hips and were a little long, but it was okay since my boots had a good three inch heel to them. My top was sheer black and I had a black satin bra underneath. Anywhere else and I'd look like a complete slut, but at the races, this was kinda tame. I let my hair hang loose with it's natural waves. Finally I decided to ring the doorbell. "Whoa, hey girl!" Leon answered. I smiled. "Hey Leon, what's up?" "Nothin' but you girl! Hey, you sure 'bout V, cause I don't think you can really make a decision unless you've tried the other options." He said playfully as he put his arm round my waist and walked me to the kitchen. "You're right Leon. I should really give Dom a chance and then make and educated decision." I smiled sweetly at him. "That's cold girl." "Hey, get your greasy hands off of her!" Vince said as we came into the kitchen. "Hey Vince." I said as he stood there just looking at me. "Hey." He stepped forward and kissed me gently. "You look amazing." He whispered. I just stood there and breathed him in, he smelled like a combination of soap and mint and that unmistakable scent of a garage. I loved it. "How was your day?" "Better now." He responded. "Good." I smiled. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leon make a face. "So what's going on with Letty, Mia, and Brian tonight?" Vince asked as he released me and walked over to the fridge. Dom walked in the back door waiting for my answer too. "They went to a friend of Mia's house." "Who?" Dom asked. "A girl named Rose, I think. So you racin' Dom?" I asked. He nodded. "When am I going to get to see you race?" I turned toward Vince. His eyebrows arched and he looked at me. "Soon." "When? I mean, I keep hearing about what a bad ass you are but I don't really see it." I challenged. He looked at me as I smiled teasingly, and shook his head. "Girl, you better watch it or I just might show you what a bad ass I really am." "Whatever." I laughed. He took my hand. "Let's go." We left the house for the races.  
  
Do What You Gotta Do 16  
Vince POV  
  
"V, you seen Mia tonight?" Dom asked me as I fiddled with my guitar. "Nah, not since this morning." He got a concerned look on his face. "It's already two." I raised my eyebrows. I couldn't believe it was already two a.m., damn the night went by fast. "Vince, I'm gonna go." Sira walked up looking kinda beat. "Why?" "Cause I gotta work at one tomorrow and it's a double." "Come stay with me at my house." She gave Dom a look and he got the hint that she wanted to talk to me privately. "V, I need to sleep and I don't want to move too fast with us. I'll call you in a couple of days, k?" She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I waved as she left. Well that fuckin sucks. "She leave?" Dom came back over as I sat my guitar down. "Yeah." "I'm gonna give Mia a call." He pulled out his cell. "Mia, where the fuck are you? It's two a.m. . . . . . Well hurry your asses up!" he clicked his phone shut. "They're on their way back." I nodded. He left to go talk to some blonde in the corner. About five minutes later Mia, Brian, and Letty came through the door. Mia and Letty were hanging on each other, and Brian was trying to move people outta the way so they could get to the kitchen. "What happened to those two?" I asked Brian. He just shook his head and we helped them to the kitchen. "I had five coronas and two tequila shots." Letty announced with a smile on her face. I gave her a questioning look. I thought they were just going to a college mixer-type party. "Letty, shhhhhhhhhh." Mia giggled and put her finger over her mouth. "Brian, why'd you let them get all fucked up?" I turned to Brian, starting to get annoyed. When Dom saw them he would be pissed. "I didn't know Letty was drinking so much and the shots are what did it for Mia." "I had four." Mia put four of fingers up and started giggling some more as she leaned against Brian. "Letty, do you want me to drive you home?" I asked her as she got some water from the sink. She nodded. I started to walk her out of the kitchen when Dom came in with the blonde under his arm. Shit, I said to myself, this isn't going to be pretty. But to my surprise Letty just smiled. "Hello Dominic, hi Angie." The blond smiled and Dom stood there expressionless. "Hey Letty, how you been?" The blonde asked. "Fine, I gotta get home though, drank to much ya know." Letty was actually being pleasant. I don't think I was the only one surprised. Dom and Brian's jaws dropped to the floor. "I hear ya girl." The blond responded. "Bye guys." Letty waved as she walked out of the kitchen. I followed her and Dom followed me. "Letty!" Dom called after her and she stopped at the front door. "Please don't yell Dominic." She rubbed her head. "Where were you tonight?" "With Mia." "Where?" She didn't answer. "They went to a party at Mia's friend's house." I answered for her. She stayed silent as Dom looked at her. After a minute of silence between the two of them, Letty finally spoke up. "Dom, you need to get back to Angie." She turned to open the door and walked outside. I shrugged at Dom and told him I was gonna give her a ride home. He just nodded.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I wonder if I could call stabbing Macabee with my ball point pen, justifiable homicide. Just a question I ponder as I feel him watching me fill out my charts. For God's sake just leave me alone, I want to scream at him. I only have one more hour on my last shift left, please just let me get through it, I pray silently. "Nurse Scorpio." I pick my head up to see him standing right in front of me. "Yes Doctor." "May I see you in my office." "As you can see Doctor, I'm very busy right now." I return my attention to my charts. "Now, Nurse Scorpio." I get up and follow him to his office. After shutting the door he sits behind his desk. I am disgusted that this man has any power over me. "Nurse, it has come to my attention that your 'boyfriend' is a patient here. Vincent Pallulette, right?" I nodded in agreement. Where is he going with this? I ask myself. "Nurse, do you realize how unprofessional it is to date the patients." "Doctor do you realize how unprofessional it is to take me away from my work to address such an insignificant issue. We are consenting adults. I know it's not encouraged but it has not affected my work nor his therapy. So call me when you have something of real value to discuss." I got up and walked out of his office. What a prick!  
  
Vince POV  
  
I hate Mondays, they always seem longer and there's always more work on them. Plus, getting to garage late didn't help. Dom was in a mood, and already got pissy with me. By lunch I was really ready for a break. Mia brought over some sandwiches for us and I was never so happy to eat a turkey sub in my life. "What's his problem?" Mia asked Brian as Dom grabbed a sandwich and walked silently back to the office. "Who knows." Brian answered and shrugged. Mia gave Letty a questioning look and she just shrugged too and walked to the back of the shop. "So how's it going with you and Sira?" Mia asked. "Fine I guess, I haven't talked to her since the races cause she's been working." I finished up my sandwich. "I'm really glad that she decided to work it out with you." "Hey! I decided to work it out with her. I gave her a second chance." I defended. "Yeah, whatever V! Like you have beautiful, intelligent women breaking down your door everyday!" She laughed. "Well, she was smarter than you! She chose me!" I replied. "Lack of options." Brian just started laughing and went back to Harry's. "Hey, I gave her an option." Leon stepped in and gestured to himself. "That's not an option, that's a threat." Mia laughed. "I gotta get back to the store. Laters." We waved goodbye.  
  
"Yo Dom!" I knocked lightly on the office door, then let myself in. "What's going on bro?" "Workin." He kept his head down and eyes focused on receipts. "Really man. What's goin on with you today?" He finally looked up. "Same old shit. Same old Letty shit." "Bro, I think it was really cool the way she acted the other night. She was civil and well-mannered. I totally thought she was gonna kick that blonde's ass. But she was cool." I sat down on the couch. "That's just it V. She didn't even care. No dirty looks, no shoves or slaps. She's grown out of all that shit. She grown outta me." "Are ya complaining? Now you don't have to sneak around." I reasoned. "Or do you wanna get back with her?" "I figured we'd be back together by now, but Saturday night just proved that she really doesn't want anything to do with me. She doesn't come to Sunday barbeques, she doesn't come to races unless she's racin, she never hangs out at the house. It's really over man. I guess I just figured it was on hold." "You don't know that for sure dawg. I know she misses the old days, maybe she thinks that because you get with the racer skanks that your glad it's over." Dom thought for a moment. "Fuck, I don't know what she thinks. And hell if I'll ever be able to figure it out."  
  
Sira POV  
  
I miss Vince. I really miss him. I couldn't wait to see him. I was almost running down the street to Mia's house. "Hey Sira." Dom said as I walked through the door. "Hey Dom." I was kinda breathless. Dom smiled and pointed to the kitchen, I nodded thanks and walked over to the doorway and smiled as I saw Vince, Leon, and Brian trying to ice a huge cake. I decided to just watch and listen, they were so in to the cake, they hadn't noticed me yet. "Fool, you totally missed this chunk over here." Leon told Vince. "Yeah? Well who's finger prints are those." V pointed to the other sided of the cake. Leon gestured to Brian, who started shaking his head in defense. "Nah, it wasn't me!" Letty came bounding through the back door and swiped some icing with her finger. "Doin good guys!" They all started yellin at her. "Hey Sira!" she said as soon as she saw me. "Hey girl." The guys looked up and V smiled big. He was in front of me in two big steps. He hugged me hard and long, before kissing me on my cheek and explaining that he had to finish with the cake because it was for Mia's birthday. I asked him where she was and he said in her room and that I could go up there. I kissed him on the forehead, and after saying hi to Brian and Leon I went to find Mia.  
  
"Hey chica! Happy Birthday!!" I stepped into her room. She gave me a serious look. "Tell me the truth Sira, how big of a mess am I going to have to clean up because I know the boys are in the kitchen?" I put on a straight face. "Let me put it this way, it may just be easier to move." Mia's eyes widened, I started laughing and assured her that it wasn't that bad. I gave her the card I had bought for her and she opened it and thanked me. She loved the gift certificate to Express. We went downstairs together and the guys brought the cake out with twenty-three candles on it. After we sang to her and she cut the cake, we all sat around the living room eating and talking. It was so great just to be off of work and able to hang out. The more I learned about the team, the closer I felt to them. Letty's cell phone rang, and she left the room to answer it. Everyone looked around at each other. "If we're all here, who's on the phone?" Vince wondered aloud. Mia gave me look and I knew that Chris was calling her. I kinda smiled and Mia smiled too. "What's that for?" Vince asked me, he was sitting next to me on the couch and turned sideways and looked from Mia to me and asked again. "What? I can smile at Mia if I want to. Why? Are you feeling threatened?" I tried to joke. Mia and I were the only ones laughing. "Mia, who's on the phone?" Dom asked Mia directly. "Why do you care Dom." Mia got up outta her chair and started gathering plates. I got up to help her. We walked into the kitchen where Letty was just hanging up. All three of us just looked at each other, and before we could say anything, Dom and Vince were in there with their questioning glares. "Letty, who were you talking to?" Letty glared back at Dom. "Angie. She was wondering if you had performance problems with me too." Letty snapped at Dom. Obviously trying to control his anger Dom just silently walked over to her and took the phone out of her hands. She just shook her head and sat down at the table. "Who the fuck is Chris?" Nobody said anything. Vince looked at me and I turned away. "Sira, who is Chris?" He asked me. "It's none of my business so I'm not going to get in the middle of it, maybe you should do the same." I suggested. Whooo, that was a dirty look he threw back at me. I'm just gonna go, I thought to myself. I walked outta the kitchen, told Leon and Brian good-bye and went home. I didn't need all that drama.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I turned and watched Sira walk out. Fuck! Oh well, I got enough problems right in front of me. "Letty, I'm gonna ask you one more time, who is Chris?" "Dom, you askin me 'who is Chris' is like me askin you 'who is Angie' or Tamara, or Amy, or Karen, or Cammi, or dozen other names of chicks you've fucked." "So you've fucked this punk?" Dom's voice boomed. Letty closed her eyes and shook her head. "No! I haven't fucked him Dom. Look, you want the story?" "Yes! I want the story, Letty." Dom was starting to get really impatient. "I went on a date with this guy Chris and I liked him and he liked me so we went on another date, that went good too so he just called to ask me out again. It's not rocket science Dom. We like each other so we are getting to know each other better." She took her cell phone from his hands and put it in her pocket. She started to walk out but he stopped her. "I want to talk about this." "I don't." She shoved her way past him and left. Dom looked at Mia and she just glared at the two of us. "I swear I don't which one of you is stupider." "How'd she meet this guy?" Dom ignored her statement. "I introduced them." She confessed proudly. "Why?!" Dom asked, surprised. "Because of you, you asshole. As long as Letty is single, you feel you have a back up, someone waiting in the wings for you. But that's not how it is. Letty doesn't want to be with you, she may never want to be with you. You have to accept that. I set her up with my friend Chris because I thought they would get along. Guess what! I was right! Now maybe you can pull your head outta your ass and realize that you are not getting back together with her. Get off your mopey ass and realize that things have changed! Jesse is dead, Letty has left you, Brian is my boyfriend, Leon and Vince have moved out. We have a different life now. You keep acting like things are the same or that they are going to be the same someday, but they won't Dom. This is our new life, get used to it." Dom stood there in awe of Mia. I couldn't believe she just told him all that. By the time she was done Leon and Brian had come into the kitchen. "I know things have changed." Dom snapped at her. "Look, Dom, I still love you and so does everyone else here. Letty loves you too, she always will, but that doesn't mean your gonna be together okay? You have to let her live her life, like she's trying to let you live yours."  
  
Sira POV  
  
I left my house to go for a run and ran right into Letty. "Hey girl, you okay?" "Yeah, I'm sorry I caused friction between you and Vince." "It's cool, he has no business asking me questions about your life." She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, well I hate that Dom feels he still has some say in my life. I knew this would hurt him and that's why I didn't tell him." "Well, let Mia talk to him, maybe she'll get through to him." Letty came inside and we decided to go running together so we went over to her house so she could change.  
  
If at First You Don't Succeed, Dust Yourself Off and Try Again 17  
Vince POV  
  
Internal conflict going on here. I want Sira to feel comfortable if she ever spends the night here, but I've had this Sport Illustrated Swimsuit poster for years. I stare at the blank wall over my bed, conflicted about what I should do with my favorite poster. "Put the damn poster up!" I turn to see Dom standing behind me. "I'd love too but if Sira decides to ever talk to me again, it would be nice if she wasn't yellin at me about this shit." I shoved the poster in my closet. "How's it goin back at the house?" I asked. "It's cool, I guess." "Talked to Letty yet?" "Nah, not since a couple days ago." "What are ya gonna tell her?" "Just apologize, I guess. Nothin more to say really." "Why don't you just tell her you wanna get back together?" "If I did, and we did, that would be great, but what if I cheated, she'd find out and then she'd leave the team. Having her on the team is better than her leaving forever. She would, ya know, if I cheated again." "Then don't cheat." "Easier said than done, bro." I nodded. I was ready for a steady girl, Dom still had some searching to do, I guess. "Let's go get a beer." I suggested and we walked down to the kitchen.  
  
Sira POV  
  
In a power struggle, the best defense is a good offense. Or is it, the best offense is a good defense? I stared at my cell phone and my house phone as they lay beside each other on my coffee table. If I called him, would that be a good offense? If it was, is that what I needed? Shit, I am confusing my self. Okay, okay, okay, I'll call. Just as I reached for my house phone, my cell phone rang! Whoa! "Hello." I answered. "Sira." "Dr. Macabee?" I asked incredulously "Sira, I'm gonna need you to come in tonight." "Sir, that won't be possible and I think you should be addressing me as Nurse Scorpio." I answered in an annoyed tone. "Nurse Scorpio, Nurse Porter called in sick. She has the flu and someone needs to cover for her."  
  
"I know for a fact, Dr. Macabee that my name is not next on the cover list. I'm at least three names down because I just covered for someone last week."  
  
"Be that as it may, Nurse Scorpio, you are the one I called because I feel more comfortable working with your expertise." "That's funny because I don't feel comfortable working with you." I heard a beep on my line and put Macabee on hold to answer it. "Hello." I said quickly. "Sira, hey, how are you doing?" Vince asked me. I rolled my eyes, now, now is when he chooses to call? "V, I'm sorry but I have another call on the other line, can I call you back?" "Yeah, sure, whatever." He hung up. Great, now he's pissed. "Dr. Macabee." I clicked back over. "Nurse Scorpio." "I can't come in, I have plans and I can't cancel them. Besides why do we have a cover list when it is not even utilized?" "I will have to note this in your file." "Note away." I hung up. I think I hate him. Wait, yeah, I hate him. I exhaled slowly, what was I thinking before Macabee called? Vince! Ohh and he's pissed now cause he thinks I blew him off. Where does this leave me in the power struggle? I tried calling him back but all I got was his voicemail.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I turned my phone off and threw it on my bed. If she doesn't want to talk to me I'd rather her tell me than make up excuses. I got up to answer a knocking at the door. Hoping it her, but knowing it wasn't I opened the door to see Letty standing in the doorway with a framed poster in her hand. I let her in even though it was clear she still wasn't talking to me. As soon as she walked into the living room, Dom walked out of the kitchen. They just stood there looking at each other. Taking my cue I went in to the kitchen. Hey, I still had to be able to hear, right? "Another Van Gogh for Leon's room?" Dom asked. "I thought this one could go here in the living room." "It would look good over by the couch." What the hell? Since when did Dom become a decorator? "Yeah, well is Leon here?" "No." "Okay, I'll just leave it here then." I guess Letty must have gone for the door because Dom then said, "Letty can we talk, just real quick?" "Dom, I'm really not in the mood to fight." "Me neither, I just want to apologize to you." "Okay, I always have time to hear the great and wonderful Dom apologize." Letty said in a mocking tone. "Look Letty, I'm trying to admit that I was wrong for being jealous can you cut me a break here?" "Sorry, go ahead." "I don't want there to be any secrets in the team. If your dating someone, I don't want to feel you have to hide it because you're afraid what I'll say or do. Your life is your own, do what you want. But I always got your back, k? If this punk, I mean, if this guy mistreats you in anyway, I'll kick the shit outta him." "Thanks dad." "I'm serious Letty." "I know and thanks. We're cool, okay?" "Okay." "Good. Hey Vince! Get in here! The Hallmark moment is over!" I peeked my head out of the doorway. "Get in here V, I got some things to say to you." I stepped in to the living room. "What I do with my life is my business. Be my friend, not my keeper. Got it? And another thing, Sira covered for me because I asked her too. It had nothing to do with you." I stood there silently, thinking. "Hey genius! Snap outta your macho attitude and call her!" "She already blew me off." I said. "Do I look, like I care? Call her again!!" Letty pressured. Dom smiled and I threw my empty cup at him. "What? She's right!" He laughed.  
  
The Forbidden Dance Chapter 18  
Sira POV  
  
"Mia, why are you dragging me to this party?" I whined as Mia opened my car door and physically yanked me out onto the side walk. "Because you've been mopin' for long enough about Vince. Now it's time to see that life goes on!" She smiled as we stood in front of Hector's house. "It's only been a day!" I protested. "Mia, do you realize that Vince might show up?" I asked her with my hands on my hips, ready to say whatever I had to avoid this. "Do you realize how awful and awkward that would be?" She rolled her eyes and dragged me inside. Once in the house I couldn't help but feel better as the music pulsed through my body. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"This better work Let." I said as Letty, Leon, and I walked in the back door to Hector's house. "It will, just relax and try not to be such an asshole." She replied. I stopped and looked at her, she shrugged and said, "What? It's good advice!" We continued to walk through the kitchen and into a huge living room. I spotted Sira near the door with Mia. My breath caught as I looked at her, she was wearing a strapless black dress that was just above her knees but with high slits up the thigh. She looked amazing! As usual, she always caught me off guard with her beauty. Like I had somehow forgotten what she looked like, every time I saw her, I was surprised. She was swaying to music a bit and smiling. Good, I thought, she's having fun. "Okay, I'm gonna go say hi. If you could peel your eyes away from her for one second V! I don't want her to see us!" Letty snapped me back into reality. I shook my head as Leon and Letty approached Sira and Mia.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Hey chiquitas!" Letty called as she danced over to us. "Hey girl." Mia replied. I smiled at her and saw Leon following her. My stomach dropped. Is Vince here? "Come dance with me Mia! Show me if you still got it, girl!" Leon extended his hand to Mia and she started shaking her head. He started nodding and grabbed her hand as she protested. "C'mon Mi!!" Reluctantly she followed him to the living room where everyone else was dancing. "We gotta see this!" Letty smiled big, and we followed them and watched as they started to dance to fast salsa song that came on. Wow, Leon can really move, it was no surprise to see that Mia could dance, but Leon was keeping up just fine! He dipped her then spun her out and she quickly started dancing with Hector who was watching on the side. Leon did a double take, seeing he'd lost his dance partner he looked around. "No, no, no!" I said quickly as Letty pushed me onto the center of the floor and Leon grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. "Chill out Sira and have some fun girl!" Leon laughed. His good mood was contagious and as I tried to keep up with him I couldn't help but laugh. As the song ended another one started up with a great beat and Leon smiled devilishly, I shook my head but he ignored me. He pulled me close then spun me out and let go of my hand. I bumped into a tall hard thing and before I knew it the thing had my hand and his arm around my back and was starting to salsa with me. I looked up and saw that it was Vince.  
  
Vince POV  
  
As I moved back and forth in the rhythm that Mia had taught me so long ago, I tried to concentrate on showing Sira I was a good dancer. Leon had gotten Letty and now they were showing everyone up on the dance floor. He picked her up, spun her around, dipped her and moved her around the floor with no problem. Sira looked at them and then at me and smiled, her smile faded as I looked back at her. "Maybe we should talk." She shouted above the music. I nodded my head and led her through the kitchen, out to the back yard. "Look Vince, I don't know what you want from me." Sira said as soon as we were alone. "I just want you." I looked at her and could see that that answer wasn't gonna cut it. "And what do you mean by that V?" She asked thoughtfully. "I, uh, I don't know exactly." I stuttered out. "V, do you remember why you were mad at me in the first place?" "Because you kept something from me. I hate secrets Sira, they tear people apart." I said forcefully. "It wasn't my secret to tell. You have to understand that Letty and Mia are my friends now and if they tell me something in confidence, they have to know that I won't just run off and tell you!" She argued back. "But they're like family to me!" "I know that, but if they don't tell you something, can't you trust that it's for a good reason!" Now we were both yelling. "How can I trust you if you keep secrets!" "Vince! You're not listening! You don't have to know every little detail about everybody's life! Just trust me anyways!" Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that people from the party were starting to notice us and looking from the kitchen windows. "Sira, can we go somewhere else and talk." I said in a low voice. She looked at me like I was crazy. "No! You wanna know why? Cause I don't want to talk to you any more!" She walked away around the back of the house toward Mia's car and stood in front of it. I followed her and turned her around to face me. "Let go of me Vince!" She shouted. "Mia!! I'm ready to go!" "Sira, please just listen to me for a second." I pleaded, surprised at the desperation in my own voice. She got quiet and just stared at me, waiting. "Go ahead." She challenged. "Sira, I think we really got something here, but if it's going to work out then we need to trust each other. I'm not saying you have to tell me everything but at least let me know what's going on!" She rolled her eyes. I was quickly running out of patience. "FINE! You know what? Fine! You don't care, so I don't care. Have a nice life!" I walked off. Fucking chicks! I swear, I put aside a lotta pride trying to talk to her and this is what I get. Well she obviously isn't who I thought she was and not worth my trouble.  
  
Sira POV  
  
Okay, I don't think I've ever fucked anything up so bad as what I just did. I leaned against the car trying to hold back the sob in my throat. Why couldn't I just apologize and explain in a calm voice, why did I have to yell? Why is it I get so worked up around him? It's like my nerves just take over, and when I'm nervous I yell and throw a fit. Mia came out and took me home. Once inside I let her go back to the party and just sat alone in the dark, still trying not to cry. Finally I decided that I would call him. Even if he never wanted to date me, I could at least make a mends and be friends. As hard as it would be to try and be just friends with him, at least it was something. I searched for my cell phone on the coffee table and found it. Just as I picked it up and punched in his number it was knocked out of my hand. When I turned to see what was it that did that I screamed in shock to see a large shadow step into the moonlight that shown through my living room windows. "Macabee, what the fuck are you doing in my house!" I shouted.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I looked at the caller ID on my cell and saw that it was Sira. Fuck that shit! I can't go through her shit anymore. I flipped my phone shut and went to grab another beer from the fridge. I'll let her bitch on my voicemail.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Where have you been Sira?" Macabee asked calmly, like he'd been waiting patiently. "Get out now!" I said forcefully as I backed myself behind the couch. He approached slowly. "I called you but you didn't answer." "I'm calling the police, I'm sure they'll answer!" I stepped toward my house phone and picked it up. No dial tone. Fear crept into my head and I started shaking. What the fuck does this psycho want? "I needed you at the hospital and you weren't there." "I was off today." I said calmly, looking for my cell. I saw it on the floor by the lamp, as I moved toward it, Macabee came at me.  
Rescue Me Chapter 19  
  
Sira POV  
  
I rubbed the back of my head and tried to sit up. I realized I was on my bed and my wrists were ducktaped to one of the posts. Thankfully I was still dressed in the black dress I'd been wearing. I looked at the clock and it was past midnight. I turned to see Macabee sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. What the hell am I going to do? I just looked at him. He didn't say anything.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"I'm gonna get going." I said goodbye to Letty, Leon and Hector and headed out the door. My phone beeped as I got into my car. Must be Sira's voicemail, I thought to myself. I dialed my voicemail, but all I could hear was a lot of background noise and then a loud thud. Confused I replayed it when I got home. "Yo! Dom!" I called out. I knew he was there, his car was in the drive. Apparently hanging out at our empty house was better than hanging out at his. He came outta the bathroom and slapped a newspaper on the coffee table. "What's up dawg?" "Listen to this message, it's from Sira?" "Oh yeah? How did that go tonight?" "Imagine the apocalypse then turn it up a few notches." "That well, huh?" "Listen to the message I got from her though, it's weird." He put the phone to his ear and listened for a minute. "It sounds like two people arguing." "Yeah, but what's that thud at the end?" He shrugged. "This is from Sira?" "Yeah." "Call her back to make sure she's okay bro." I nodded in agreement and dialed her number. "No answer, I think I'll just take a ride over there to make sure everything's alright." He nodded and said he was gonna go home so we locked up and left.  
  
Sira POV  
  
Is it me? Is it like I have a beacon that only dogs and men with severe emotional problems can hear? After I woke up, Macabee ducktaped my wrists to my bed post and sat back down on the chair and just stared at me. How am I supposed to handle this? Do I kick and scream, do I try to reason with him? What the fuck!! For now, I just try to keep quiet and not give him any reason to hit me again or touch me. "I just wanted to spend time with you Sira." After about five minutes of complete silence. "Then why are you here without my permission?" "Sira. I know you like me too. I can tell by the way your body tenses up around me." He smiled sickeningly. "That's from disgust Macabee!" Not a good thing to say to a psycho who's got you ducktaped. He got up and came to the bed and slapped me across the face. Determined not to give him the satisfaction of hurting me, I didn't scream or whimper. "Sira, Sira, Sira, I don't know why you are so closed off to the possibilities. I could help you with your career." "Only if I wanted to work Psychiatric Ward!" I spat at him. He laughed. "Look, I know people are gonna wonder where I am in the morning, so you better just let me go and we'll never speak of this again, okay." I tried reasoning with him. "No one cares where you are Sira, no one but me. That roughneck boyfriend of yours is probably off fucking someone else right now." He taunted me. Fucking bastard! I didn't respond.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I pulled up to her house and noticed a BMW parked across the street. There ain't anyone who owns one of those in this neighborhood, I thought to myself. It was almost one a.m., I hope she's not pissed that I'm waking her up. I knocked and nobody answered, so I knocked louder. Still no answer. That's kinda weird, I wonder if she's a heavy sleeper? I walked around to the back and tried her back door. It wasn't open, so I just walked toward the front. I'll just catch her in the morning.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Hey!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled before I got smacked again and duck tape slapped on my mouth. Oh God let who ever that was hear me. I waited a minute and Macabee stood there silently, trying to hear if anyone was trying to get in.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I heard a scream and instantly froze. What the hell was going on? Quietly I walked back around to where her bedroom window was and peeked around the corner. There was faint light from the moon and I saw two shadows, one looked like it was on the bed and the larger one was standing near the bed. This just doesn't feel right. I know she's not seeing anyone else. I heard a muffled voice and saw the figure on the bed try to kick the one standing. The one standing dodged the kick and then shoved the one on the bed down into the mattress. Clinching my fists I walked back to the backdoor and decided to just ram it in. I backed up and ran right for it. The latch busted and the door swung open and I landed on the floor of her kitchen. I got up and went to the bedroom and flicked on the lights.  
  
Sira's POV  
  
I have never been so happy to anybody in my entire life as I was to see Vince at that moment. When he switched the bedroom light on, it was so bright I had to close my eyes, by the time I had opened them, Vince was on top of Macabee pounding him. After I saw that Macabee was unconscious I started squealing through the tape on my mouth. Vince finally sat up and got off of him and came over to my bed. I couldn't help it, I just started crying. Slowly, he took the tape of my mouth and in an instant his pocketknife was working on the tape on my hands. After they were free I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried from relief. He just held me. "Dom. Get over to Sira's now." I heard him say into his cell phone. It seems like I sat there forever holding on to him and crying. When I saw Dom in the doorway I backed off and tried to get myself together. "Whoa, what happened here?" "This asshole is Sira's boss at the hospital. I don't know what happened but when I got here, she was tied up." Vince threw the duck tape on the floor, beside Macabee's unconscious body. "I'll call Brian, he'll take care of this." Dom walked out of my room. Vince looked at me and pulled me off the bed to my feet. "Brian's going to take care of this alright, I'm taking you over to Mia's and you can spend the night there, k?" I nodded.  
  
Vince POV  
  
By the time Brian got over to Sira's Macabee was still unconscious. We sat him up in the chair and kept an eye on him, while Brian made a few phone calls. The police came in five minutes. Brian helped them fabricate a story of how he got beaten up and then arrested. Sira would give her statement in the morning. We had thought about making a deal with him and making him leave the state and keeping the cops out of it but if he left he would just do this to some other girl. I know Sira wouldn't have been happy with that. Everything was finally over by about 2:30 in the morning. I went back to Dom's and slept on the couch, I wanted to be there when she woke up.  
  
Hope Floats Chapter 20  
  
Sira POV  
  
I looked around and it took a few minutes for me to register that I was in Mia's bedroom and that it was 10:00 am. I stretched and yawned and stepped out of bed. I was wearing flannel pants and a huge t-shirt that smelled like Bounce. I stumbled into the bathroom and as soon as I flicked on the light, it all came back to me. I had to grab the towel rack to not lose balance. Macabee tried to kidnap me! But Vince saved me! How did I get to Mia's? Who changed me? All these things flooded my head until I saw the reflection of Vince in the mirror. I spun around and just stared at him. "I'm okay." I stated. Trying to calm my racing heart, which I'm sure he can hear, I started to breath deeper. "Good. I'm glad your up." He said. "Who dressed me?" I asked quickly. "Mia." I nodded. "You want something to eat?" He motioned downstairs. "No, actually I feel nauseous." "Okay, that's fine, do you need help getting back to bed." "No, I'm okay. You said I was going to have to give a statement to the police and press charges?" I asked. "Yeah, but you can do it whenever your ready." He assured me. "I'm ready now. Can you come with me to my house so I can change?" I asked. He agreed.  
  
Vince POV  
  
She is amazing. I can't believe how well she's handling all this shit. She musta been in that questioning room for, about three hours and I know she hasn't eaten anything all day long. I hear her on the phone with the hospital as we drive to my house. "Where are we going?" She asks as soon as she hangs up the phone. "To my house. When do you have to be back at the hospital?" I reply. "They're switching me to a new rotation in the prenatal care unit. In one week." She stared out the window. "I just wanna say thank you Vince. For everything." "You don't have to thank me, Sira. I'm just glad I could be there when you needed me." She nodded.  
  
When we got back to the house, I made us sandwiches and we ate in silence. "You can sleep here tonight if you want." I told her as we walked into the living room. "Thanks Vince, but I can't live scared of my own home." "I can spend the night there." I offered. She shook her head and asked me to just drop her off at home. "Sira, don't push me away, not now, not after what we've been through." I told her before she got out of my car. "Vince, I don't mean to push you away, I just need some time to deal with this and feel safe again." She said and then walked to her house. I called Mia and told her to go visit her. Mia's great with comforting people.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I jumped involuntarily when the doorbell rang. Fuck! I cursed at myself. "Hey Mia." I greeted her with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. "Hey girl." She smiled warmly. I invited her in and noticed she had a bag with her. I looked questioningly at it. "I'm spending the night." She simply stated. "Oh, uh, that's really sweet Mia but I don't need you to do that." "I know you don't need me but I'm here anyways, that's what friends are for chica." I couldn't help but smile.  
  
We ordered pizza and called Letty to come over too. Once she got there she started babbling about Chris and how he'd taken her to lunch today and what a gentleman we was. "If you ask me though, he's being a little too chaste." Letty implied. Mia and I raised our eyebrows and looked at each other. It was almost starting to feel like normalcy had returned to my house. The doorbell rang before she could go into details. I ran to open it and Leon, Brian, Dominic, and Vince were standing there holding way more pizzas than we had ordered. I couldn't help but laugh, they looked so eager to please. "There's no way I'm payin for all that!" I said, not letting them past the doorstep. "It's on the house mam'." Leon said in his most professional voice. "Is the pizza guy cute?" I could hear Mia yell from the living room. Whoa, if she only knew! She must be feeling feisty. I stifled a giggle. "If he's cute invite him in!!" Letty yelled and they started laughing. I just looked at the guys. They looked at me expectantly. "There's more than one!" I yelled back, still making the guys wait outside. "Perfect!" Mia and Letty yelled at the same time. I couldn't help but laugh and I motioned for the guys to come in and led them to the living room. The looks on Letty and Mia's faces were priceless, both looked embarrassed and guilty at the same time. I just laughed and got paper plates and napkins from the kitchen. Vince came in just before I walked out. "This is cool, right?" He asked. "Yeah, of course. It's actually, exactly what I needed." He smiled. Impulsively, I leaned in and brushed his lips with a kiss. Surprised he raised his eyebrows. I smiled and walked out into the living room. He followed a moment later. "Now I know not to let you order pizza anymore!" Brian was telling Mia as I put the plates and napkins on the coffee table. Leon started passing beers around from one of the cases he had brought in. "I was just jokin babe!" Mia smiled her most seductive smile. "Whatever." Brian muttered but smiled back. I looked at Letty, who was quietly guzzling her first beer, and realized that I would always be safe with these guys. It was a good feeling. "Fuck Letty! Don't grab from the only mushroom pizza we brought!" Leon yelled from across the coffee table at her. "Leon, shut the fuck up! There's still plenty! I only got one slice!" "But you know that's my favorite!" "Shut your whiney ass up! Here!" and in motion she flung her half- eaten slice at his head. "Bitch!" He yelped as it hit him in the face. She started laughing hysterically and so did everyone else! "I just didn't want you to go without your favorite topping!" she replied in an innocent voice. "I'm gonna kill you!" He promised as he wiped his face with his shirt. He stood up and so did she. Instantly I was worried for the safety of my furniture. We were sitting in a sort of circle on the floor around the pizza on the coffee table. I was at the head with Vince to my right and Letty to my left, Mia was next to Letty and Brian next to her, and Dom next to him then Leon in between him and Vince. Leon moved from the circle and Letty did too, seconds later she took off and Leon was after her. We all stood up and started cheering, Mia and I for Letty, the guys for Leon. Suddenly we saw them running through my back yard. Finally he had her cornered against the fence. We could hear the obscenities she was yelling at him through the windows. He got her before she bolted again and was carrying her like a little kid back into the house. He grabbed one of the slices from the supreme box. "Leon! You better fucking not!! I hate onions!!" She yelled right before he smushed it entirely in her face then stuffed what was left down her tank top as she squealed in protest. "You fucker!!" "Are gonna behave now?" He said after the cheering and laughing calmed down. "Fine!" She replied. "Apologize too!" He demanded, she gave him a smirk and he shook her a little and said he wouldn't put her down until she apologized. "Fine!! I'm sorry I ate your precious mushrooms!" Leon smiled triumphantly and plopped her down.  
  
Vince POV  
  
After we'd eaten and hung out for a while Mia suggested we watch a DVD. "Well, no prob.!" Sira got up and opened the cabinet to her entertainment center and listed all the DVD's she had. "All you have is chick flicks!" I exclaimed. "Nuh-uh! I have Jerry McGuire. That's not a chick flick." She replied. "Arghhhhh!" Dom, Leon, Brian, and I groaned simultaneously. "What!? Just cause I don't have the full collection of Bruce Lee, or Jet Li or Jackie Chan, doesn't mean I don't have good movies!" She defended. "But you don't even have Stallone, Bruce Willis, or Vin Diesel! You call this a movie collection?!" Leon joked. "How about Steel Magnolias!" Mia suggested. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that Mia!" Dom groaned. "Okay, okay, I've got something we all can agree on." Sira started to put a CD into her DVD player. "Fight Club!" We all started nod our heads in agreement. Everyone settled into Sira's couches as she turned of the lights. I made room for her beside me on the loveseat. She sat down and leaned against me. Instinctively I put my arm around her and she leaned in more. Her affects on me always hit me like a ton of bricks. She smells so good, her hair is so soft, her hands are so delicate. What the fuck am I thinking! Man, I sound like a fool in love. Oh shit! Wait, no fucking way! Could I be in love? Nope, I'm not going to think about it. By the time the movie was over, everyone was asleep. Sira was breathing softly and calmly, laying practically in my lap. Gently I slipped out from under her and picked her up and took her to her room. I laid her down on her bed and covered her. As I bent to kiss her on her forehead, I stopped myself and just looked at her. Fuck! I gotta get outta here! I woke the guys up and we left the girls asleep in the living room. It was only around eleven. We decided to go on a quick race run. Just to see what was up. Once we got there we saw a lot of new faces. Guess it was a bit different crowd on Thursday nights. We saw Eduardo, a cousin of Hector's and bullshitted with him a little and decided to leave. But just before we got back to our cars Eduardo came and got us. "Bro, that guy Letty's been seein' is 'bout to race my brother. Just thought maybe you'd wanna know since Letty's your girl and all." Eduardo pulled Dom aside and told him. "She ain't my girl." Dom corrected with a stone cold face and stepped back toward his car. "I know bro." Eduardo called after him. "She doesn't know he's a racer." He added. Dom stopped and thought, then he looked at me. "It wouldn't hurt to at least get a look at him, dawg." I replied. Leon nodded in agreement. Brian shook his head. "I already know what he looks like, so I'm gonna just go home, K? 'Night." Brian took off. We walked up to where they were revving their engines, getting ready to start. That Chris guy was runnin' a tricked out Eclipse. I gotta admit it was tight. The race started and he won. Eduardo's brother was pissed but just drove away, letting Eduardo handle the money. Chris looked like he was a college kid. His hair was clean cut, his face clean-shaven and his clothes were kinda prepped out. He was Latino, but didn't seem to use the same spanglish that all the guys we knew used. Dom was openly pissed off at just the sight of him. Obviously he wasn't over the idea of him yet. But I didn't think Dom would talk to him, so I was caught totally off guard when Dom strode toward him. "I'm Dominic Toretto." Dom extended the guy his hand. He was about the same height as Dom. "Chris Servantes." The guy shook his hand. Then they just stood there. I took it to mean that Chris already knew who Dom was. "Nice car." Dom complimented. Leon and I just stood with our arms crossed sizing the guy up. I couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't told Letty he was a racer. "Thanks." The guy was stone like Dom. Good job Letty, I smirked to myself, you got yourself a guy just like Dom. "When are you gonna tell her you race?" Dom didn't even bother to mention Letty's name, everyone there knew who "her" was. "I wasn't." Dom looked at him questioningly. "It's not something I do on a normal basis. It's not the most important thing in my life. I do it every once in a while, when I need extra cash or just a rush. I was bored tonight so I thought I'd school someone." "You better tell her." "Or what?" "I'll tell her." "Shouldn't you worry about your own business." "She is my business." "Not from what I hear." Dom went still and I could see he was using everything he had to control himself from delivering this guy a beat down. "Tell her or we will, it's that simple." I stepped in. Leon advanced and nodded in agreement. "Stay out of it, it's that simple." He countered. Okay, this fuck is starting to piss me off. He got in his car and drove off. On the way home, Dom was quiet. This Letty and Dom drama shit just won't end!  
  
Sira's POV  
  
I hate waking up and not remembering how I got to where I am! Right now I'm in my bed but I coulda sworn I fell asleep on the loveseat with V. He musta carried me to bed. That was nice. I got up and changed into some flannel pants and a tank top. I found Mia and Letty curled up in the living room. I smiled as I walked to the kitchen and started breakfast. About twenty minutes later I called V and invited him and the rest of the guys to breakfast at my house and told them to hurry cause it wouldn't take long. By the time they got there Mia and Letty had woken up and changed and were helping me out in the kitchen. As soon as I could I yanked Vince out to the backyard. "Vince, I would really like to try a relationship with you." There, I said it. I put all my cards out on the table. But it was hell for the few moments that he was quiet. "Sira, so do I." Whew! I exhaled finally. He leaned in and kissed me softly. When he pulled away I smiled and then I heard snickering. I turned to see the whole Scooby gang at the back window starin' at us. "Don't you guys have better things to do!" V yelled at them. They started laughing. "Well, if it's a show they want!" I smiled mischievously and grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. Surprised but getting the idea, he picked me up and took me to the window and pushed me up against it while still kissing me. "EEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Everyone at the window grossed out and went back to the kitchen. Laughing we walked inside.  
  
Something About That . . . . 21  
Vince POV  
  
I love my team. I really do. But right now all I want is for them to get the fuck out of Sira's house. I'm sorry but a man's got needs. I need her. Now. She's walking around the kitchen cleaning up after everyone and all I can think about is . . . damn, why the hell are they all still here! "Dom, maybe you guys should get to the shop." I finally tell Dom in a low voice. "It's only nine. We can open a little late." "I don't think I'll be coming in today but maybe you guys should go open it now." I suggested. He gave me a questioning look. I stared at him, trying to convey my meaning telepathically. Finally getting the hint, a grin appeared on his face and he started rounding up the kids. "Shop's gotta open and so does the store so let's get going." He said in a commanding voice. Everyone groaned and started to leave. Mia and Letty were the last ones. "Vince, hurry up, we're already running late." Mia urged me to get going. "Mia, I'm gonna hang 'round here for awhile." I said without really looking at her. Sira just smiled shyly. "What for?" Mia asked. Can she be that clueless? "Let's go Mia." Letty intervened. "I'll tell you what people do when they're in love, on the way." She smiled and dragged Mia out. "Taking the day off?" Sira asked as she straightened up her living room. Why is she so concerned with neatness? We are finally alone! "Yeah." I moved toward her and she moved to behind the couch and picked up some trash. "So how do you plan to spend it?" She smiled. Oh, she's doing this on purpose! She has to be, she knows exactly how I want to spend my day. I smile at her. She smiles back. "I'll race you to the bedroom!" she says as she runs off toward the hallway.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"Are you sure you're okay being in here?" Vince asks from the doorway. I lean back on my bed and nod. "I'm hoping to make some good memories in here, to replace the bad ones." I reply. He slowly steps into the room, almost afraid I'll change my mind. I sit back on the bed as he walks toward me and stands over me. Gently I sneak my hands up is black wifebeater and kiss his exposed stomach. I smiled as I heard him groan with pleasure. Undoing his buckle and his jeans, I continue to kiss his stomach, then his hips. Boxer- briefs, huh? Very sexy. I half-expected him to be going commando, which would have been fine with me. Looking up at him, I yank his boxer-briefs down forcefully and up pops little V, but not so little anymore! I gently take his shaft in my hand and wrap my lips around his head while not losing eye contact with him. I wonder what he's thinking as I start to pleasure him. Is this good? Am I going fast enough? This better be good fool, cause I don't go down on just anyone! In fact he is only the second guy I've ever done this for. And he didn't even have to ask! Finally Vince breaks contact with my eyes and closes his. "Baby, I'm close." Okay, well get closer cause I want to do this for you Vince, I think to myself as I suck faster and caress his balls with my free left hand. A few seconds later he leans forward and I fall to my knees to get a better angle. Looking at him, he nods and comes in my mouth. Well, definitely never did that for anyone else. Something about that boy. Whew. Swallowing and trying not gag, I release little V and sit gingerly up on the bed, Vince collapses next to me. Not able to wait any longer I walked over to my bathroom and brush my teeth.  
  
"Hey what up Letty!" I saw her name on my cell caller ID and greeted her warmly. "Hey, what are you doing?" It was 2 in the afternoon. Well, Letty, I was doing your friend Vince but that was about ten minutes ago, I wanted to tell her, but opted not to. "Just waiting for Vince to get back with some food." I responded. She laughed. "Have you even put clothes on at all today?" "I've put sheets on, does that count?" More giggling. "So what up chica? Anything wrong at the shop?" "No, just wanted to tell you that no one will be bothering you guys at all tonight." "No pop-ins from the gang?" "Nope. Mia and Brian are going out together and Dom and Leon are going to a party up in the hills." "What about you?" I asked slyly. "I'm busy too." "Doin' what? Or should I say, doin' who?" I giggled. "Oh shut up! I'm not doin' him! I'm just going out with him." Her voice suddenly went to a whisper. "Is Dom around?" I whispered back. "Yeah. Anyways, Chris and I are just goin to dinner." "So is this thing between ya'll going anywhere?" "Um, I don't know. In some ways he's really great but at other times I wonder if he's really being honest with me or just telling me what I want to hear. Ya, know? He's almost too perfect." "Maybe you just have to get to know him better. It's only been like three weeks right?" "Yeah, I guess. It's just, well, there's just something about that guy. I don't know if it's good or bad yet." She sighed loudly. "Oh shit, Dom's comin' over here, I gotta get back to work. Laters." She rushed off the phone.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Brian." "What up V?" "What's going on with the whole Macabee thing?" I asked. I quickly parked in Sira's driveway and waited for his response. "He's out on bail bro, but under strict orders to stay away from Sira until trial. He's not even allowed at the hospital." "Good. Thanks Brian, for handling all this shit." "No prob man. Sira doesn't deserve to go through all this." "Yeah, I know." I hung up with him and walked into Sira's house.  
  
"Vince?!" I heard her call out from the bedroom. "Yeah, it's me." I could almost feel her breath a sigh of relief. I hope Macabee goes away for life for making her afraid to be in her own home. I had only taken ten minutes to run to FatBurger to get us a late lunch. I walked into her bedroom and couldn't help but smile. I was glad to see she was still in bed and still dressed only in her white sheets. She sat up and we ate on little trays and watched General Hospital. It was kinda cute how she tried to explain who was who and why she liked which characters. Damn, I must be in love to actually be watching soap operas. "So there's Lucky, he's Luke and Laura's son. God, they were the couple of daytime!" Okay that's enough of that. I quietly put threw all the trash away and discarded all my clothes and got back under the covers with her. I gently started kissing her neck. "Mmm, V, what are you doing?" she asked as she tried to focus on the T.V. "Tryin to get lucky." I mumbled. She giggled a little then turned the T.V. off. "You should already feel lucky. I just turned off my favorite Soap for you." She leaned back into the pillows, I got on top of her and continued to trail kisses from her neck to her shoulders, to her tits, I started to suck on her nipple which was hard and tasty. She moaned softly. Slowly I moved my hand down her stomach and onto her thigh. I massaged her inner thigh and gently slipped my fingers into her. She gasped. "Oh, mmmmmm, babe." She groaned. I love that she's a talker! Making her make noise makes me only harder. Once I feel her getting wet I start nuzzling in her neck. "Baby, you're so wet." I whisper to her. "It's your fault." She smiles and I draw my fingers out of her and place a hand on each side of her and look down. Seductively she licks her lips and can't resist the urge to bend down and kiss her. She kisses me back hard and long and reaches her hands to her nightstand. SWEET! She pulls out a condom and starts to close the drawer but I put my hand out to stop her and pull out the whole box and dump it on her nightstand. She starts giggling and I can feel her smile against my mouth. "We can go get more tomorrow." She says as I sit up and rip one open and put it on. "I like the way you think." I reply and bend back down and kiss the crook of her neck. "Ah, God V." She mumbles. I slip my fingers inside her again and then separate her folds and gently move my dick in her. Teasingly I rub her clit and then start pumping, slowly at first then faster. "Oh, babe." She gasps as she nibbles on my ear. "You feel so good baby, so tight." "Faster Vince, please, oh God please!" "Cum for me baby, cum for me!" I started moving faster as she pushed into me with her hips. "I'm cumming." I whispered as I was almost there. She bucked her hips against me and moaned forcefully. I came and called out her name. First time I'd ever done that. Something about that girl.  
  
Sira POV  
  
First time in my house alone since the break in. It's cool, I can handle it. I keep telling myself, just keep getting ready and Leon and Vince will be her any minute. Okay, done with my hair, now onto make-up. Shit, what was that noise. I look around my bedroom and into the hallway. Nothing. I have got to get over this paranoia. Okay, time to slip on my black bootcut pants and black lace blouse. That's that. Where are they? I said nine. It's nine. Carefully I walk into the brightly lighted living room. Ever since psycho Macabee, my house has been so lit up you could land a plane. Whatever it takes to make me feel better. Finally I hear a knock. "Hey guys." I open the door to see the appropriately decked out Vince and Leon. "Hey babe." Vince hugs me and kisses me on my neck. "Hey Sira, when are you gonna start hooking me up with some of your hottie, naughty nurse friends?" Leon asked as he gave me a hug. "Leon, you couldn't handle a nurse." I gave him a sly wink. "Well, shit, Sira, I'd like to at least try!" he whined. "Trust me bro, you couldn't handle a nurse." Vince told him as we walked out to his car. "Your delicate. And nurses, well, nurses ain't." I gave him a mischievous grin. "Whatever. You two don't know shit about what I can and can't handle." He rolled his eyes. "But, just outta curiousity, how rough are they?" We all started laughing. "No seriously." Once we got the meeting place we met up with the rest of the team. Seeing Letty leaning against her car alone I walked over to her. "What up girl?" I asked. "Nothin'. I just don't want to be here." "Why, what happened?" "I was supposed to go out with Chris tonight but something came up and he couldn't make it. That was cool, ya know, whatever. But then Mia kept buggin' me to come to the races and now I have to spend the night watchin' this shit." She gestured over to where Dom was. He was laughing and flirting with some girl that I've seen around Hector's. Letty shook her head. "I don't know why I let Mia talk me into this." "You want me to go kick his ass?" I tried to cheer her up. She just smiled and laughed, then turned around to size up the competition that was out tonight. I have to admit, this racing thing is kinda cool. It's a totally different world out her at midnight with all these tricked out cars. Vince just lights up out here. Tonight he's racing, I wonder what it'll feel like to go home with a winner? Guess we'll see. "Letty, stop pouting. I brought you out here for a reason and there it is." Mia came up to us and pointed at a car getting to race. It was a black Eclipse with the windows rolled down. Letty's eyes got a big as dinner plates and then she looked at Mia. Mia just shrugged and told her that Brian found out last week. Confused, I watched Letty stomp over to the Eclipse. Mia and I followed, no way on earth were we going to miss this! "Not into to shameless, testosterone-fueled competition huh?" Letty said calmly as she leaned forward on the window the car. Quickly I put two and two together and deduced that this was Chris. "Letty, let me explain." He tried to say, but Letty just shook her head. "You don't have to explain anything. I know what racing is." Letty stood back and he got out of the car just as the other two cars took off. Amid the screaming and cheering, she just stared him down. There is nobody better at the evil stare than Letty, if looks could kill, she'd be arrested on mass homicide. Poor guy just looked sheepishly at her. Yeah, buddy, that's gonna work, I thought. Suddenly I noticed that not only were Mia and I there, but it seems that guys had joined us for front row seats to this event. "You lying sacka shit!" Letty told him after the noise had quieted down some and people were heading toward the finish line. "Letty, it's not something I'm heavily into." "Well good to know that you canceled a date with me to do something you're not 'heavily into'." "Baby, I'm sorry." He looked pitiful. "Baby? Don't baby me! You haven't earned that right and now you never will." "Don't say that Letty, I still want to go out with you." "Well, let's just say I'm not 'heavily into' that." I couldn't help but smile at her sarcasm and seeing her use air quotes is priceless. I could tell Chris was starting to lose patience and was suddenly becoming very aware that we were all there, especially Dom who looked like he could give Letty a run for her money in the glaring department. "Letty, what can I do to make this up to you?" Chris asked quietly. "You could have never lied in the first place. I wouldn't have cared if you were a racer! Fuck! I'm a racer! And I was up front witcha 'bout all that! But I can't respect a liar and I can't be wit someone I don't respect." Shit, Letty, lay it on him! "Fine then!" He was pissed now, being rejected will do that to a man. "You ain't even all that anyways!" Now that got a response from V, Leon and Dom. They instantly stepped forward. Chris must have not noticed though. "I was sick of ya anyways!" He spat at her. Shaking her head, she just smirked. "What?" He asked. "Think you can do better than me? You can't even do better than Dominic." Uh-oh, last straw. Dom was on him in a flash, poor guy didn't even see it comin'. The guys let him pound on him for a minute then pulled him off. "Don't you ever come 'round here again!" Dom yelled as we all walked back to the cars.  
  
Going to the Chapel Chapter 22  
Vince POV  
  
Damn. I knew I shouldn't have put that poster up. Sira's eyeing it and I can tell by the skeptical look on her face she's wondering exactly what kinda man she's gotten herself mixed up with. I sit up in bed and just look at her looking at it. She looks really cute in one of my t- shirts. She's so short that it almost hits her knees. "Well, there ya go. If I ever thought you anything but a typical guy, this pulls me back to reality." She pointed at my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit poster. "Babe, it's a classic, I've had since I was, like, thirteen." I explained and pulled some boxers on and went to stand beside her. "Van Gogh is a classic. This is embarrassing." "She's not naked." "She's not real." "Some parts of her could be." She rolled her eyes. I laughed and threw my arm around her. Shaking her head she walked out my bedroom door and into the kitchen. I followed. "Mornin' Leon." She greeted Leon who was scarfing cereal. "Mornin'." He mumbled with his mouth full. Sira stopped right in front of him and rested her arms on the table. "Leon, can I ask you a question?" She didn't wait for an answer. "What do you think of grown men having posters of half naked girls in their bedrooms? Do you think it's normal, or just juvenile?" She asked, faking curiosity. Leon looked from me to her and then back at me. He swallowed his cereal and looked at his watch. "Wow time for me to leave already? See you guys later!" He left his half-eaten bowl of cereal on the table and jetted out the back door. I looked at Sira. "See what you did. Brotha couldn't even finish his Coco-Puffs." I told her. She giggled. "Yeah, I've noticed that you and Leon eat like little kids." She opened the pantry door. "Fruity Pebbles, Mac n' Cheese, Oreos." "Hey now, don't think cause now we're together you can come into my life and give me a makeover." She gave me an innocent look. "What are you talking about? I'm just trying to advise you that maybe your little poster is juvenile and that maybe as an adult you should learn eat like one." I shook my head and poured us both some Captain Crunch Berries.  
  
Sira POV  
  
"So how's it going in the new department?" Letty asked as we ate lunch at the Toretto's store. "It's cool, Prenatal Care is definitely more eventful than Physical Therapy. And my new boss is really cool." "When do you testify against that bastard Macabee?" "In two weeks." "Good." Letty nodded. "Have you seen Chris lately?" I asked. "No way. He dropped off the face of the earth, or least L.A." She laughed. "How's it going with you and V? Leon says you got him to take his fave poster down." We both smiled. "Yeah, well, I just couldn't sleep with that half-naked chick staring at me!" We both started laughing. "You guys goin' to the BBQ tomorrow?" Letty asked hesitantly. I nodded. "Of course." I replied. She exhaled. "Brian told me to go. He said that Mia hates that I only go for special occasions." "Well, I personally would love it if you went." "Yeah, well I guess I should try, I mean it's been, like, a year." I nodded in agreement.  
  
Vince POV  
  
Grilling, barbequing, this is what men were meant to do on Sundays. I don't know when I've ever been this happy. I got my girl in the kitchen makin mashed potatoes or some shit like that and I'm out here wit' my boys grillin'. Dom and Brian just came back from talking alone in the garage and the girls came outta the kitchen with the fixins and now we were ready to eat! "Leon, pray." Dom commanded after we were all seated. "Aww, Dom!" He whined. "Fine. Dear God, bless this food and thanks for, uh, everything. Peace. Amen." "I have something to say." Brian stood up and looked at all of us, then at Mia. "I have been in this dysfunctional family for over a year now and we've all been through a lot together. I just want to say that I love you all and I'm thankful for you." He turned to Mia. "Most of all I'm thankful that I met you and fell in love with you. Mia . . . . will you marry me." Brian sunk to one knee beside Mia's chair and held out a ring in his right hand while he held Mia's hand in his left. I think this is the first time I was speechless. "Yes!! I'll marry you! OhmyGod!!" She squealed.  
  
Sira POV  
  
That was unexpected. Brian proposed marriage to Mia and she accepted. The acceptance wasn't unexpected but the proposal sure was. Everyone looked over at Dom. "What? It's her life." He defended. Letty looked at him doubtfully. "I already gave my consent." With that Letty and I started jumping up and down and hugging Mia and Brian. Leon scooped Mia up in big hug next. Vince just walked inside the kitchen. Everyone just looked around at each other and then at Mia. Nodding, she walked into the house.  
  
Vince POV  
  
Mia's getting married. Married to Brian O'Connor. I feel like shit for not congratulating them right away but right now I just need a moment to process this. Mia, the Mia I grew up with, obsessed over and was thrown into jealous rages over, is getting married. "V? You okay?" I turned. "Uh, yeah. Just surprised." I gave her a quick hug. "Congratulations." "Thanks. I was surprised too." She smiled shyly. "You love him this much?" I asked. She nodded quickly. "It's important to me that you're okay with this Vince." She looked down and then up again at me. "Ha." I scoffed and started at my shoes. "Since when do you care about what I think?" "Vince, I love you like a brother. You know that." "Yeah, I know." I sat down at the kitchen table. "I, uh, I gotta go." "What? V you can't just leave! What will Sira say?" Mia questioned frantically. "Just tell her, uh, just tell her I gotta call and I had to take care of something." I left through the front door and jumped in my car and drove.  
  
Sira POV  
  
When Mia came out of the kitchen I heard the engine in Vince's car roar and I looked at her questioningly. "He needs to take care of some stuff." Mia said as if that explained everything. The whole team was sending silent looks to each other. "What's going on?" I knew there was something they weren't telling me. Nobody said a word. Aggravated, I stood up threw my plate away and turned to face them. "You know, somebody should really tell me why Mia and Brian getting married is such hard news for Vince." I looked at all of them and they all avoided my eyes. Fed up with their shit, I left and walked home.  
  
Vince POV  
  
I drove around L.A. for about an hour, then stopping at burger joint off the coast I called Mia. "Thank God you called." She answered. I smirked. "Aw Mia, I ain't been gone that long." "Well Sira left after you did and I haven't been able to get a hold of her." "What did you tell her?" "Nothing, just that you had some stuff to take care of. She didn't buy it Vince. She's not stupid, ya know, she knows something's up." I groaned. This is all I needed. "I'll be back soon and I'll go talk to her." "So I'm right in assuming you never told her that you used to have a thing for me?" Mia questioned. "Yeah Mi, I'm gonna tell my new girlfriend that I used to be in love with her new bestfriend. That woulda gone real well." I said sarcastically. "Honesty is supposed to be one of your big virtues V." "She didn't ask, I didn't tell. Besides I'm over you and totally in love with her." "Tell her not me." "I'll be home soon. Laters" I hung up with her and called Sira's cell. "Hey baby." I said as soon as she picked up. "What was the deal with you today?" She asked immediately, well so much for easing in to it. "Can I come over and we can talk about it in person?" I said hopping into my car and starting the engine. "We can talk right now." "Sira, I'm driving." I tried to reason. "Talk Vince." She wasn't havin' it. "Fine." I said in frustration. "Before Mia and Brian got together I was into Mia, since, like, high school, I guess." There, I said it. "Why is this the first I'm ever hearing of it?" She asked quietly. "Because it's not important. She never liked me back. Then she met Brian fell in love and then I met you and . . ." my voice trailed off. "If it's so unimportant, why did you behave the way you did at lunch today? And why didn't anyone want to explain it to me when you left? If it's so unimportant Vince, why are you out driving, which I know you do to clear your head? Vince if your unreciprocated attraction to Mia is so damn unimportant then why did she run inside the kitchen after you?" She hung up the phone. Fuck! That did not go well at all.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I'm only human right? I ask myself. I can't compete with some dream he's had in his head since high school. I sit on my couch staring at my cell phone, debating whether or not to call Mia. I probably shouldn't. This is between Vince and I and has nothing to do with her. It's about honesty and total disclosure. Mia is just an innocent bystander. Vince even said she never liked him back. "Hello?" I broke down and called. "Hey Mia, it's Sira." "Hey girl, I've been calling." "Yeah, well I had some stuff to do too." I lied. "Have you talked to V?" "He explained some stuff." "I'm sorry we didn't tell, but I honestly didn't know how." "I understand. He's the one who shoulda told me." A long pause. "So what did V tell you." She asked after a while. "That he liked you and you didn't like him back and this went on for a long time." "That's about the jist of it. He hated Brian in the beginning, not just cause he was suspicious." Okay, it's starting to get hard hearing her talk about Vince being jealous over her. "Uh, Mia?" I interrupt her. "Why didn't you like Vince back?" "I grew up with him, it's hard to look at someone, who was practically a brother in a romantic way and I guess deep down I always knew he wasn't the one." "Vince just pulled up, I gotta go." "Good luck!" "He's the one that needs it. Bye." We hung up. I went and answered the door and Vince was standing right there.  
Damn it! I love you! Chapter 23  
Vince POV  
  
I sat on the couch and Sira sat across from me on a chair. "First of all, don't hang up on me without saying good-bye. It pisses me off and that's not a good thing when I'm driving." She just stared at me and didn't even blink at what I had just said. "Do you love her?" She asked simply. I could tell she was trying to control her anger. "I love her like she's always loved me, like family." "Then why did you react the way you did?" "I just needed a little more time to adjust to it, that's all. I congratulated her as soon as she walked in the kitchen." "Are you still jealous of Brian?" "No. He's a good guy and I know he'll treat her right." "I talked to her before you got here." "Good. If anything, I don't want you to be mad at her."  
  
"Don't worry, all my anger is focused on you." Ouch. That's not good. "Why didn't you tell me?" Simple enough question. "I didn't want you to think I was still hung up on her, or that I was comparing you to her cause it wasn't like that in any way." "How do you feel about her marrying somebody that isn't you?" What the fuck is this? Therapy? "Sira, what the fuck is this? Therapy?" She just stared, expecting an answer. "I don't want to marry her, so she might as well marry someone else. I want to explore this." I motioned to her and me. Her stone cold stare softened for a minute. Yes! I might just have a chance here!  
  
Sira POV  
  
Okay, so he doesn't love her anymore, and he had a kind of valid reason for not telling me before, and I guess I can understand why he needed to deal with the engagement news in his own way. Why am I still pissed? Getting up from my chair, I walked to the kitchen and poured myself some iced tea. I didn't offer him any. "You're forgiven Vince." I stated as I sat on the couch perpendicular to the one he was sitting on. There was moment of silence. "You say it but I don't think you mean it." He finally says. "I mean it." And I explained how I understood everything. Then it got quiet again. "Okay I believe I'm forgiven, but I know you're not happy with me and I wanna know why." "I can't tell you that." I replied after taking a long drink of my tea. "What!" He exclaimed. "Why the fuck not!? "Cause I don't know myself and that's the honest truth." "Wait a sec. Your still pissed with me but you don't even know why?" "I'm sure I have a good reason." "If that reason is your period, you should just pop a Midol and get over it Sira." "Oh get the fuck out Vince!" How dare he say something so crude to me. "With pleasure, and let me tell you this." He said as headed for the door. "I'm now pissed with you and I do know why. Because you are confusing as hell! You forgive me but I still get the cold shoulder! Bye!" He slammed the door on the way out. Well, that went well, I thought sarcastically.  
  
Vince POV  
  
"Hey." I said as Letty answered the door. "What's up?" She was on the phone, probably with Mia. "Can I call you later Mi?" I was right. She hung up and invited me in. "What up V?" She asked as I exhaled loudly and sat on the couch. I thought for a minute and then told her everything that had just went down between me and Sira. "Well V, I don't really know what to tell you." She got up and grabbed a couple Coronas from the fridge. I snuck a peek and all she had in there was Coronas and lunchmeat. "C'mon Let. You and Dom used to fight all the time and you always made up!" I was desperate. "Well, if your fight was about you sleeping around or highjacking big rigs I could help ya, but your problems are different." She laughed. "Funny." I was not amused. "Okay, well actually I do know what she's pissed about." Letty said casually. I looked at her with wonder, like she had the knowledge to make cars fly. She laughed some more. "Poor, poor, simple V." she said with fake pity. I pushed her off the couch and she just started laughing some more. "Letty, you don't know shit." "Oh, but I know this! She's upset cause she doesn't know the where she stands with you and you haven't told her bro!" She giggled some more. I looked at her confused. "What? She knows I like her and that I wanna be with her." "But do you love her? She wants to know where she stands in your heart V." Letty explained. "What?" I asked still confused. "Thinking about how you used to feel about Mia made her wonder about how you feel about her right now. She needs more to go on than, just 'I wanna be wit you'." I thought for a minute. It kinda made sense, I guess. "So?" Letty questioned. "What?" Letty rolled her eyes. "Do you love her?" I smiled at her and kissed her cheek and left. I could just imagine her calling Mia as soon as she possibly could.  
  
Sira POV  
  
I've cleaned the entire house. I hate cleaning and I've cleaned my entire house. Damn that Vince! Taking off the rubber gloves I used to scrub my bathroom tiles free of soap scum I answered my doorbell. "Hey." Vince said in a soft voice when I answered. Thanks a lot God, I thought. I smell like Tilex and Vince is here dressed nicely, smelling irresistible and holding flowers out to me. That's just great. "Come in. Sorry, but I was cleaning." He didn't take his eyes off of me. Do I have soap on my nose? I rubbed my nose quickly. He kept on staring as I put the flowers in a vase in the kitchen. "Sira, I think I know why your still upset." "Actually, I'm feeling better, just needed to clean off some steam." Wow, that was a lame ass joke. He just smiled. What does he know that I don't? "Sira," he walked over to me and took my hands in his and looked me in the eyes. "I love you." What!! You could knock me over with a feather right now! "Uh, uh." I stammered, not able to return his gaze. "What?" "I love you. And I want you to know it." Makes sense, that is something I should know. "Okay." I say slowly. He looks at me expectantly. Shit now I have to say it! Do I love him? Let me think. I love his loyalty, his honesty, his boldness, his sexual skills, I smile to myself. I love how sweet he can be and how passionate. I love it when he calls me babe and puts his hand on my lower back. Holy Shit! How did I miss falling in love! "I love you too." He pulled me to him and kissed me. 


End file.
